Knights and Dragons
by Orochi-Ne
Summary: There's a kingdom under siege by an evil queen, a manwhore who just wants his girlfriend back, and a son of Hercules with plans for purifying the world. Welcome to the land hidden from truth.
1. Primo

A/N: A few ground rules before we start, this entire story is set during the rise of the Roman empire which means there will be no _Greek_ gods. Instead of Zeus we get Jupiter, understand? Second the story switches from third to first person so "-x-" is third and "-a-" is first. Special thanks to my beta for putting up with all my story ideas. The first chapter of this lovely fic is dedicated to a friend of mine named Fred, thank you for helping me realize how much I _love_ character death and weird pairings. _Anywhore;_ go ahead and get to the good stuff. Reviews are highly valued.

**Knights and Dragons**

Eva Padlino squirmed with all her might to escape the shadowy bonds that were currently curled around her arms and legs. Her eyes glanced around, taking notice of the other captives that rested around her — most of them were friends or at least comrades. Daniela Mistico, daughter of Ganymedes, rested to the left of her. She was the newest member of the rebels and to be quite honest the most idiotic — her reasons for joining were rather selfish, but Eva had allowed it because the girl had an interesting flare to her.

Now she honestly couldn't help but think that it would've been better if she hadn't let the girl join — maybe then she could've lived a little longer. Eva glanced to her right to see her second in command, Dante, trying to fight his way out of the bonds. He was a son of Mars who always got his own way. Even when death came knocking at his door, he would fight the grim reaper with all he had.

Eva took another glance around, seeing the blurred faces of her other comrades, all the people who had put their lives at risk just to help her bring down the queen bitch of the kingdom.

_Speaking of queen bitch…_

Her eyes glanced upward at the sound of a door opening and a look of pure hatred washed over her face when the queen came into view.

Queen Edvige stepped out onto the balcony of her castle, a bright smile gracing her lips. Today was one of her favorite days; she would finally be able to rid the kingdom of all the little rats that dwelled inside it. She turned slightly in order to make sure that her favorite knight was still inside the castle in case anything went wrong; he was in position and simply nodded his head and smiled at his queen to let her know he was ready.

She turned back to face the large crowd that had long since gathered and stepped closer to the railing of her balcony. Her hand went up in the air as a means to silence the townspeople.

"As queen of this kingdom, I would like to thank all of you for coming to this lovely event we have planned for today. Unlike executions in the past, the prisoners will have a chance to escape."

Nobody in the crowd dare to speak or even breathe while the queen spoke. The last person that even thought about breathing was stripped of their land, thrown in jail and beaten to a bloody pulp by the queen's knights.

"Now, Leonardo, be a dear and release our lovely prisoners." She spoke the words as if they were completely normal — this was all just one big game to the queen.

A black portal opened up in front of the prisoners and out stepped a boy looking to be about seventeen. He wore pitch black armor that seemed to fit his body perfectly and his eyes wandered up to his queen before glancing back at the prisoners. Some of the girls in the crowd swooned when they saw the famed son of Nyx. With a snap of his fingers the shadowy bonds disappeared.

Everyone in the kingdom knew about the queen's first knight, Leonardo. He was with her way before she rose to power. There were a few rumors flying around that secretly the two were together, but the queen would _always _deny any accusations. She saw Leonardo as her brother — a brother, who she would admit, on certain occasions, was _smoking hot,_ but a brother nonetheless.

"All right now everyone. If the prisoners can make it to the gate there," the queen said pointing to the large gate that separated the courtyard from the outside world, "then they are free to go."

Eva gritted her teeth when she was released — the queen wasn't this nice of a person. "This isn't right; she wouldn't just let us leave. Dante, what do you think?"

The son of Mars looked at his leader before shaking his head; normally he'd suggest trying to escape, yelling 'Fuck the queen' and returning home to fight another day. This situation was different from any other he'd been in. No matter what anyone said, the queen was a complete and utter nut job.

"This is completely against everything I believe but we have to wait — someone will be stupid and try to escape eventually."

It didn't take long for Dante's words to come true; because of certain daughter of Ganymedes thought that now was the perfect time to leave.

Daniela glanced around the surrounding group with a blank look on her face. This wasn't making any sense; the queen was giving them a chance to escape and they weren't taking it? "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm getting the Hades out of here!"

She took off towards the large gate without a second thought. Fighting wasn't really her style anyway and her mother was more than likely worried sick — if she made it out alive she would go home and apologize for ever leaving.

Eva's eyes opened wide when she heard the yell for freedom that Daniela gave. Her body shot forward after her only to have a hand stop her mid-run. She glanced back at Dante who simply shook his head.

The queen's eyes locked onto the small figure that was moving towards the gate and a sadistic grin overtook her lips. "About time one of them decided to be stupid." Edvige snapped her fingers and a cold wind suddenly blew into the area.

"Don't do it you stupid girl!" yelled Eva from the sidelines. "She's not going to let you go —"

Before she could even finish her sentence a burst of wind hit Daniela and sent her to the ground. A female figure landed on the ground, a look of disgust covering her face.

"To think — someone actually ran. I was actually looking forward to coming after you pathetic group of bugs. Of course that doesn't matter much now, you've sealed your own fate."

The woman that stood before Daniela gripped her sword, raised it into the air and stabbed it down into the small girl's head without so much as a second thought. There was no screaming or crying; the only sound that could be heard was the joyful clapping of the queen from up above.

Daniela's death was a sign to the rebels — it showed that soon they would all share her fate. So most of them did what any reasonable human would do when death is presented to them.

_They went completely insane_.

Most of them took off towards the gate as an attempt to follow Daniela's lead. "They can get some of us but, not all!" one of the rebels yelled. Sadly they didn't realize just how wrong they were. The queen clapped as her playthings ran about the court trying to reach the false freedom she had promised them — everyone knew they couldn't make it past her knights but it was sure fun to watch them try.

"Lorena, be a dear and kill them for me. You too, Leonardo." Edvige looked down at her knights with a bright smile.

The girl that was currently poking Daniela's dead body, Lorena, glanced up at her queen before growling in the direction of the rebels. She brushed a black strand of hair from her face and moved to meet the oncoming idiots — the 'prisoners'. Lorena wasn't the type of person to be gentle; when she had a job to do she did it without question.

So when she shot forward into the group of prisoners, stabbing the first one she could reach in the chest, nobody was the least bit surprised. She spun on her heels and sent a burst of wind at the oncoming group before rushing forward into the fray, a wide grin covering her face.

Leonardo, on the other hand, was just playing with the rebels; every time one of them got close to the gate he'd wave his hand and a shadow would do away with them. His eyes glanced around trying to located two certain rebels — he paused for a minute while ripping a girl in half with a shadow and glanced around, trying to locate Eva Padlino, the rebels' leader. When he couldn't find her or her second in command and when he saw that the doors of the castle had been forcefully punched open, only one word came into his mind.

_Shit._

He ran into the castle only to find most of the guards knocked down and green flames blocking the stairs that rested in front of him. His hand began to rub at his temples. There was one thing that he'd learn since working with Edvige —_ never mess up her castle_. The image of the last time something broke into the castle flashed through his mind and he was dashing up the stairs without as much as a second thought. Even with the blazing fire around him — the queen's wrath scared him more than any fire ever could.

Dante glanced over his shoulder, taking notice of the shadows that seemed to be slowly advancing towards him. He gripped hold of the spear that rested on his back before turning to face the oncoming shadows a smirk on his face.

"Give the queen a good punch for me, will you Eva?" Dante said.

The daughter of Minerva stopped and glanced back at her second in command. "What in the name of Pluto are you doing? We can make it, come on! And stop—"

Dante raised his arm in order to silence her. "Just give the queen a good punch for me, will you? I'll take care of this knight; you go on with the plan."

Before she could utter another word he was rushing forward into the darkness, a red glow slowly starting to emanate from his body. "You're an idiot," Eva mumbled before turning and heading to the queen's private room.

To say that Leonardo was surprised when Dante entered the shadows with the blessing of Mars covering his body would've been the understatement of the century. The knight had to respect the rebel's bravery, so in respect he pulled out his sword and rushed straight forward. Miniature explosions took place within the shadows with each clash of their weapons; the powers of war and darkness were shaking the castle.

Dante gritted his teeth and slammed his spear into the side of Leonardo's body. The sound of resounding metal reminded him of the one advantage that his foe had over him — one simple thing he'd overlooked. Leonardo was still wearing his black armor; a hand gripped onto the side of his spear and yanked him forward. Dante's began pulling helpless at the spear his mind racing as he neared his black haired foe — the blessing of his father was slowly starting to fade. He had to make use of it while it was still surrounding his body.

_Think of something you idiot!_ Eva's voice rang in his ears and at that moment his brain went into overdrive and a plan formed. His fingers reached into his pocket as he pulled out a small bottle of eternal fire. The green flames caused Leonardo to hiss and some of the shadows around him to vanish. If there was ever a time Dante could say something heroic he wanted it to be now — sadly nothing heroic came to mind so he settled for his favorite sentence.

"Hey," Dante said holding the jar in the air. "Fuck you." With his sentence complete he threw the jar on the ground and watched it explode into a flurry of green flames. His body shot backwards from the explosion and Leonardo's did the same.

Dante opened his eyes to see the entire hallway covered in green flames. He got to his feet, ignoring the blood that was trailing down his arm and limped to the crumpled form of Leonardo. He grabbed his spear with a smirk, making sure to take in the sight of his fallen foe, and with a turn he headed off towards the queen's room.

Turning would be the last mistake that Dante ever made; there was a rule that every fighter knew the first rule of combat.

_Never turn your back on your opponent_.

A shadow lashed out at Dante's abdomen and before he even knew what was happening, the upper half of his body was falling forward and his legs fell backwards. Pools of blood formed under each of his body parts. Leonardo stood to his feet and glanced around, taking note of all the damage that Dante had caused before glancing down at his foe. He kneeled and closed both of Dante's eyes as a form of respect. With a groan he opened a portal and stepped through to go and aid his queen.

_-x-_

Eva slipped into the queen's private quarters a look of determination on her face. She looked straight ahead at the clapping figure of Edvige, who was caught up in the murder that was happening down below. Her fingers gripped hold of the imperial gold dagger that rested on her hip; she took slow steps forward trying her best to not be heard. With a quiet sigh she moved forward to the now rocking form of the queen.

"It's funny how people think they can go against fate, wouldn't you say Eva? Didn't you see how generous I was?" the queen asked with a smirk of superiority covering her face. "I even let your friends keep their weapons so they could have a better chance!"

The daughter of Minerva stopped in her tracks and her blue eyes bulged. She took a few steps back as the queen turned to face her. "How did you know I was coming?"

Edvige advanced towards the rebel with a calm look on her face. "I have little birdies all over the castle; they tell me all sorts of things." Almost on cue a skeleton bird landed on her shoulder and gave a gentle whistle. "So tell me how it feels to be utterly helpless. While I personally have never known the feeling, some say it's terrible."

Eva stammered — this wasn't supposed to happen. This plan was supposed to be completely and utterly fool proof. The only possible way the queen could've known about this would've been if she'd known from the start. Her eyes opened wide once she realized the truth — Edvige had _always _known.

"I see you're starting to understand. The only reason your rebels have been able to stay alive this long is because I allowed it. Now I think it's time this game ends. Kato take care of her for me."

"Anything for you, my queen," was the reply that came from the shadows. A figure stepped out of the darkness, a grin covering his face. Kato was the queen's third knight; he was a son of Pluto who had a dark mind to match his father's power. He looked over Eva for a minute before nodding to his queen.

"I always knew you were too weak to fight for yourself—," Eva was never able to finish her sentence on accounts of Kato's fist ramming into her face. His fingers gripped hold of her wrists; as he pulled her staggering body back towards him, he leaned in and rammed his forehead right into her nose. The daughter of Minerva cried out just as Kato released the hold on her hands.

Kato raised his hand into the air and shadows slithered their way around Eva's body. He gripped the hilt of his sword and pulled it out of its sheath. With a loud cackle he stabbed the tip of the sword through her chest — shadows began to push upward through her body and slowly began to tear her apart. She opened her mouth to scream only to have a shadow rip through her mouth. He pulled the sword backwards, pulling Eva's heart out with it.

"Good job Kato. I'm sure the _Sibyl_ will enjoy her sacrifices," Edvige said with a smirk. The queen brushed a blonde curl out of her face before walking past Eva's body and heading for the door. "I do believe it's time to greet the commoners." Kato nodded his head and followed his queen, making sure to wrap Eva in a shroud of shadows to keep her preserved for their visit to the legendary prophet.

The queen exited the castle with both Leonardo and Kato following behind her. Lorena stood in the courtyard with blood covering her armor and most of her face. Her eyes looked over the field to make sure nobody was standing; once she was sure everyone was dead she turned and kneeled as her queen stepped past her.

"Good job, Lorena. I'm sure you gave them quite the show and I know _Aquilon _is proud."

Lorena simply nodded her head and stood to her feet just as Edvige prepared to address the townspeople. She raised her hand into the air to silence the roaring crowd.

"Now everyone, I'm glad you enjoyed the show. As queen I thank you all for coming to this lovely event. I pray that Jupiter blesses all of you!"

As the queen began to give her thank you speech a certain son of Hercules was getting a little more than pissed off.

_-a-_

"I pray that Jupiter blesses all of you!"

This supposed queen couldn't honestly be serious. She had just ordered the murder of well over twenty people and now she wanted Jupiter to bless us for viewing the entire ordeal? Obviously the message I had gotten from my father was sent right on time. My fist balled and the familiar flow of power began to course through me. I began to slowly move through the large crowd around me as the queen continued to thank everyone for supporting her.

Once I reached the large gate that separated the lovely queen from the rest of us, I pulled my fist back and prepared myself for everything that would happen after I punched. With a satisfied smirk I shot my hand forward and waited for the destruction to begin.

Now, I'd love to tell you that I hit the gate, the queen came at me, and I completely kicked her ass but that would be a lie. Instead when I punched at the gate a vine slithered around my arm and restricted my movement. My fist stopped a few inches away from the gate.

"I really wouldn't do _that_. The queen and her knights would eat you alive."

I glanced over my shoulder to find a woman with brown curly hair staring back at me. She was obviously older than me but I had a good foot on her. "I'm pretty sure I could take most of those guys, now mind releasing me?"

She waved her hand and the vines uncoiled from my arm and retreated back into the ground. "Like I said before, they'd eat you alive. While you may have nice muscles, they have experience."

With a twist of my heels I was staring down at her — there was this gleam in her eyes that made me believe she had tried to take down the queen before and things hadn't turned out that well. "I'm Vitale, son of Hercules. You are?"

Her green eyes seemed to glow for a second before she spoke. "I'm Pietra, daughter of Ceres. And for the next few days I'll be your guide around this lovely kingdom, come with me." She grabbed my arm and pulled me through the crowd — well in actuality she pushed me through the crowd, I was like a human bulldozer! We got a few curses and a few shoves but we made it out of the crowd unharmed.

I was dragged around the entire kingdom, making sure to take note of everything that Pietra had to say, whether it was about the locals, the queen, or even the way things _used _to be. We stopped every so often for her to show me some of the local shops. The Venus lounge was a place people went when they wanted some fast love; Vulcan's forge was the weapons shop; and Bacchus' Grapevine was the local bar.

"This is our final stop. There are some people inside I want you to meet," she said motioning me inside the large parlor.

She glanced around the bar and grinned when her eyes locked with someone else's. Her fingers interlocked with mine before she pulled me across the bar. We stopped in front of a girl who sat silently on the table, her eyes scanning the entire parlor. Both her eyes stopped on Pietra before shifting over to me and a grin formed on her face.

"Nice of you to drop by Pietra. Raul and I were starting to get bored. The constant questions about the future get annoying after a while."

My eyes shifted to the brown haired male that was sitting on the floor beside her. If she had not mentioned him I more than likely wouldn't have noticed. His eyes met mine for a second and I felt as if he was looking past me and into my soul.

"Pietra," I started, averting my eyes from Raul. "Who in the name of Pluto are these people?"

The small daughter of Ceres blinked before glancing up at me. "Oh right, I almost forgot. Vitale this is Severa, the Sibyl, and this is Raul, her bodyguard."

I glanced at the girl who wore a constant smirk. The black hair that etched down her shoulders helped to hide a good portion of her face and her green eyes seemed to radiate an unnatural light. My hand went out and she grabbed it respectfully. Her eyes met mine for a second as she retracted her hand.

Then suddenly something I honestly can't explain happened. Severa's body jerked forward in one instant almost as if she was going to fall off the table. Slowly her body began to float in mid-air and an unfamiliar coldness appeared in her eyes before eventually her mouth opened and black fog escaped from her mouth

"Pietra what's going on?" I glanced at the daughter of Ceres who wore a shocked facial expression. "She — she's giving a prophecy. This is the first one ever that hasn't required a sacrifice."

Severa's body hovered for a few seconds, her head moved as she cracked her neck before letting out a loud ghostly moan and speaking.

"_I am the Sibyl, guide to the underworld. Let the oak leaves and the sands of fate determine the path you shall take…"_


	2. Duo

A/N: I'm getting better with updating, I swear I am! Well here we are, chapter two. I personally am not a big fan of this chapter because I feel that it leaves some questions unanswered but, seeing as how I want to really create a world for you guys to get into, I'm taking things slow. Chapter Three is already being written and will be out when I stop being lazy, _I love being lazy_. Thanks to everyone who fav'd and reviewed, they really make my day. A special note to a friend of mine named **Mission To Marzipan **who is currently in the hospital: **Get well soon**. _Anywhore_ on to the good stuff.

_-a-_

This had to be one of the strangest days I've ever had. First there was the message from my father, then there was the killer queen, and now I had to deal with some lunatic who claimed she had the ability to see the future — I was really starting to hate Mondays. I sighed and glanced at Pietra, who was gawking in a state of disbelief. From what I could gather from the facial expressions of everyone around me, this wasn't something that happened every day. My eyes shifted over to Raul, who was snickering quietly to himself. I kneeled in front of him and began asking a few of the questions that had been swirling around in the back of my mind.

"Raul wasn't it?" He glanced at me with those creepy eyes before nodding his head in my general direction. "If you don't mind me asking, what in the name of Pluto is going on with her?"

His lips curled into a familiar smirk — one that I'm sure Severa wore not too long ago. I could tell the two of them were a match made in the creepiest part of heaven. One could see the future and float while the other could stare through your soul and make you feel like you'd done so much wrong that you didn't deserve to live — yep a match made in heaven.

"She's found someone who's seeking change. Seeing as how you're the one that shook her hand and sent her into Sybil mode, I would assume that you've come to this kingdom with a purpose."

I glanced around at the small crowd that was starting to gather inside of the bar — it was true that I had multiple reasons for being here but everyone finding out about said reasons wasn't something that I wanted to happen. Well not yet anyway — they would find out when that queen's kingdom came crashing down on her head.

My attention shifted back to Raul and I nodded my head. "I have business here, though I don't think that it's important enough for a prophecy."

Raul turned his head in Severa's direction as she floated with her eyes wide open. There was something going on that he wasn't telling me — everyone else was acting surprised by the Sybil's sudden actions, but he was calm and acting like this entire thing was ordinary. With a low growl I stood to my feet, gripped by Raul by the front of his shirt, and pulled him up into the air. If he had been a little taller his feet might've been able to touch the ground.

"Why exactly are you the one guarding the Sybil? What makes you special? If it's true she can see the future, then wouldn't a bodyguard get in her way?"

His eyes gleamed with an odd light for a minute as he gripped hold of my arms. "I honestly don't think I have to answer any of your questions. Severa is the only person that I have to do anything for and the last time I checked she didn't have this many rippling pectorals."

He placed both his legs onto my chest and kicked me backwards with a grunt. I growled as I regained my balance before glaring over at Severa who was still hovering in place with the mist floating around her body.

"How do I get her to reveal the prophecy to me?" I asked with a little more venom than was necessary. Honestly I couldn't put my finger on it but there was something about Raul that was slowly starting to piss me off. It could've been the superior attitude that made me want to break his jaw in three different places and then have him beg me to fix it — gods, that sounded lovely.

Raul dusted himself off and smiled. "Now you're speaking as if you have a decent amount of sense. Simply walk to her, state your entire name, and exactly what it is that you're asking her to give you — a way to find world peace maybe?"

I sneered in his direction before stepping to Severa. Her eyes met mine and a strange chill shot down my spine — with all the cold looks I'd earned today I was going to need a warm bath when I figured out exactly where the Pluto I was going to be staying. With a quiet exhale I let my Italian accent take over and spoke.

"My name is Vitale Salvatore, son of the mighty Hercules. I was sent here by my father to help rid this kingdom of its evil queen. I come to you seeking a way to purify this place."

Silence came over the entire bar — I felt all eyes turn to me. Maybe admitting my intentions here wasn't the best thing for me to do; the queen could've had spies all over this place. I felt a hand come to rest on my shoulder and I glanced backwards to see Pietra nodding her head and smiling at me.

The silence was broken when Severa let out a ghostly chuckle. Her eyes gleamed for a second and the next thing I knew she was singing — for the record I don't mean that kind of singing that puts you to sleep. I mean the kind of singing that forces you to pay attention. It felt as if both of my ears were having compulsive orgasms!

"_Son of Salvatore, the mad queen's reign will those oppose.  
_

_In shadows of wind will death and darkness show._

_The one blessed of light must then ascend._

_To the world's vast stage, the end will begin."_

After her song was over she closed her eyes before falling backwards onto the table. Raul caught her like a good slave and placed her down on the table's booth making sure she was comfortable. The words of the prophecy echoed in my head; it was all starting to make sense, everything was tying together. I nodded to myself before turning to face Pietra.

"The first line makes everything perfectly clear; I'm not supposed to take the queen down alone. I'll need help — and a really nice plan to make sure I don't get myself killed."

She giggled. "Are you asking for my help?"

I ruffled my hair and nodded. "I guess so, though I honestly don't think the two of us will be enough to take down the queen. Do you happen to know anyone who might be willing to help our cause?"

"I think we could—"

"There isn't anyone with the backbone to help you."

Both of our attentions turned to Raul, who was now seated on the table with his fingers moving gently through Severa's hair. He turned his attention to us with a serious expression on his face.

"The queen has spies all over this kingdom. Even the animals are working for her. Seeing as how you're new to this place she won't suspect you of anything yet but if you even make one step out of line, make one small mistake and get caught plotting against her..." He moved his hand to up to his neck and made a slow cutting motion. "I think you get my point."

I glanced at Pietra who simply smiled and nodded at me. "Well now that this entire thing is settled I think it's best if the two of us get going. I have a friend I'm supposed to be meeting up with."

Pietra thanked Raul and I snarled out something that could've been described as a thank you — even if he had helped I still didn't like him. We turned towards the door with some sense of accomplishment only to be stopped by a rather odd noise.

"Wait…"

I looked over my shoulder to see Severa sliding off the booth onto her feet. Her eyes were still cold like before which led me to believe she wasn't done with the prophecy. She looked at me — for once there wasn't a smirk on her face.

"Where is my sacrifice?" she asked, her eyes burning into me. What in the name of Pluto was she talking about? In the message my father had sent me he didn't say anything about offering a sacrifice to the Sybil — hell, he didn't even mention going through this entire process of receiving the prophecy. With a low sigh I decided to take the bait and follow with the most logical thing a person could say.

"What do you mean, sacrifice?"

That was one of the worst questions that I had ever asked in my life. Severa's lips curled into a slight smirk before she turned to face Raul. The two of them simply nodded and that's when things took a turn for the worse.

Raul rushed towards me, his eyes glowing pure silver. He stopped a few inches from my body and threw a punch straight at my head. It didn't take long for my body to shift itself into autopilot and I grabbed his fist. I pulled him towards me, cocked my free hand back, and punched him in the face. He stumbled away from me holding his chin, a low growl emitting from somewhere in his throat.

"What the Pluto are you doing? Weren't you just helping us?"

He glanced at me while readjusting his jaw. Severa stepped beside him with her eyes still glowing with a cold intent. "A sacrifice must be given; I'll accept your left arm if you like."

Well this would be the last time I ever decided to leave home to go and help people. Raul pulled his sword off of the ground, tossed two daggers to Severa, and turned back to face me. I knew for a fact that I could take Severa — she weighed around the same as small boulders that I used to throw at targets back home. Now Raul would be a problem; from his creepy exterior I guessed that he was a son of Pluto. Aside from that there was the lovely fact that he was _almost _as strong as I was; he'd proven that from when he kicked me in the chest earlier.

Pietra stepped to my side a golden dagger in her hand. She glanced at me before looking back at Raul and Severa. "Think we can take them?"

I snorted at the question. "Of course _I_ can take them. If you want to help try and stay back, can't have you getting hurt." She smacked me in the back of the head before rolling her eyes. "We'll try this again; do you think _we _can take them?"

This time I picked the smarter route and nodded my head at her question. I assumed she was pleased because of the smile she flashed me; with a prayer to my father I rushed forward, leaving Pietra behind and lunged at Raul. The expression on his face was priceless when I tackled him to the ground; I honestly didn't think demigods got surprised seeing as how the ADHD was supposed to keep us alert — maybe serving the Sybil had made him a little lax?

Once I made sure Raul was pinned under me I started throwing punches in the direction of his face. While I did miss a few times, most of the punches landed around the area of his nose and eyes. As I was punching I made sure to slip a few glances at Pietra; she was holding her own against Severa. She summoned vines occasionally to help her out when there was no way to get around Severa's attacks; the two of them seemed to be evenly matched which was odd to me. Why would the Sybil be skilled in fighting? Wasn't that what she had Raul for?

Speaking of Raul, his face was pretty bloody. It seemed that I had finally managed to wipe that superior grin off of his face. I raised my fist into the air and prepared to go in for the final blow but not before doing a little bragging.

"Is this really all that a child of Pluto can do? Shouldn't you at least be able to summon a few skeletons to help you?"

That would be one of the few times that I ever regretted not finishing my opponent off. Raul's eyes flashed red and his hands wrapped around my neck; he pulled me downward and rammed his head against mine. The one thing I knew for sure at that moment was this: there was blood.

His hands tightened around my neck and the amount of air to my lungs lowered a great deal — I'm not exactly sure how but this entire situation went from bad to completely _fucked_. I opened my mouth with intentions of asking Pietra for help only to find that Severa had her backed into a corner. Pietra stabbed her golden sword towards Severa only to find that it went straight through her body. The Sybil grinned and brought both her daggers forward into Pietra's stomach. She fell to the floor a few seconds after.

"She's…Human…?" That was the only thing I could mumble as I fought to escape from Raul's grasp. Severa turned from Pietra's body, making sure to grab both of her knives before turning and heading in my direction. I had the strangest feeling that if I didn't think of something fast, my head would end up being the perfect sacrifice for Severa.

_While Vitale struggled for his life a special daughter of light was busy fighting for her freedom. _

_-x- _

The castle _Simone_ was all a buzz after the large scale executions that went on earlier that day. Everyone was happy because the queen was happy — well _almost _everyone. A special someone that rested deep underneath the castle wasn't allowed to bask in the merriment that everyone else was experiencing. There several reasons for that but let's start with the first and most obvious reason.

_She was chained to a wall_.

Necia Aurore struggled against the black chains that held her in place — she couldn't remember exactly how long she had been down here, all she knew was that it had been too long. Occasionally a familiar face would join her; most of them it saddened her to see because if they were down in the dungeon that meant their death would be coming soon. The last face that she saw was one of her old friends and main advisor in times of war, Eva Padlino. She informed her about everything that was going on in the outside world and how there were a few people that still believed in the old ways and that the queen needed to be removed from power. It gave her some hope that someone would come and bust her out of this place — that hope disappeared when she got wind that Eva was dead.

"Stupid bitch," she mumbled under her breath as images of what the queen might've done to her friend ran through her mind. With a soft sigh she returned to her plans of breaking out. Her eyes started to glow with a bright light only to be dimmed a few seconds after — those black handcuffs on her arms were helping to water down her powers. "What's the point of being a daughter of Hyperion if I can't use light?"

"_There is no point, Duchess_." Necia's eyes shifted around the room as she tried to locate the overly annoying voice that she knew all to well. A figured appeared from within the shadows that rested along the walls, a smile covering his face. "I'm glad to see that you still have some fight left in you, Necia — I mean Duchess. I was starting to think our sessions were too much for you to handle."

Achilles Nova smiled down at the girl that rested on the ground before him. This was the best part of his job as the queen's main spy, messing with the former ruler of the kingdom. The sessions he spoke of were really just talks about the outside world; he thought it was best to visit the duchess to make sure she didn't lose anymore of her sanity. Even if Necia wouldn't admit it, he was one of her best friends.

"Fuck off, Achilles. I'm trying to think and your annoying voice is going to hurt my brain." Necia closed her eyes and tried to concentrate over the excessive snickering that Achilles was doing. She focused a strong amount of light to her hands and tried blasting out of the chains — that ended a little better than the first time she tried; the chains rattled and a small crack appeared right in the middle.

"Good job, Duchess. I sure hope you can get out of those before Leonardo and Kato arrive." Achilles said with a smug grin.

Necia glanced at him with a blank expression. "Why are they coming down here? I haven't done anything wrong — unless you count still being alive."

Achilles snickered again and glanced up at the stairs at the sound of the dungeon door opening. He leaned down, getting a little closer to Necia than needed.

"This might be one of the only chances you have to escape." His tone changed from joking to serious in two seconds flat. "I'd suggest that you put your efforts into breaking out of those chains, contacting someone on the outside and hoping that they get the message."

Necia had to admit that even if the son of Mercury did annoy the living hell out of her he had his moments where he could be one the smartest people she knew. "Now don't go getting yourself killed. We still have to talk about that boy that you keep mumbling about in your sleep." At other times she wanted to rip his eyes out and feed them to him. With a loud cackle Achilles disappeared into a field of blurry mist. "Damn him _and _his partial invisibility."

Footsteps echoed in the room and soon two familiar faces came walking down the stairs. "Well, glad to see that you're not sleeping," Kato started with a grin. "This will be so much more fun."

Necia gritted her teeth and began to focus on building up small sparks of light around the chains in order to break them. She was trying her best to _not _draw attention to her hands and decided distracting both her current captors would be the best way to do so. "Oh look it's the queen's bitch and lapdog. I'll let the two of you figure out which is which."

Leonardo rolled his eyes at her outburst and simply shook his head. "We're the ones with the power here Necia. Talking to us like that might be a big mistake." He placed his hand on the hilt of his sword for some type of added affect — which earned him a straight forward blast of light to his chest. The son of Nyx stumbled backwards and glared at the captive. "Still have _some _fight left in you? We'll get rid of that soon enough."

Kato smirked in Necia's direction before turning to Leonardo. "I'm the lapdog for the record. The queen has always had you right under her thumb."

A shadow grew out from below Kato and stopped itself a few inches from his chin — Leonardo had a dark look in his eyes that seemed to draw shadows in from every direction of the room. "Want to say that again?" The shadows were starting to slither outward from the walls and slowly inched towards Kato.

"Obviously you've forgotten that _I'm_ the one who taught you how to use the shadows that have made you so famous." Kato snapped his fingers during the middle of sentence and the shadows froze instantly — he grinned at Leonardo who at the moment was grinding his teeth together. While he wouldn't admit it to anyone, Kato had indeed been his teacher when he had first learned he was a child of Nyx. The two of them had an odd relationship some would call it brotherly; others would say it was simply a façade to keep the queen pleased. Of course, those who thought the latter would be correct.

While the queen's knights wasted their time arguing about who was the lapdog and who was the bitch, Necia was busy trying to escape from her chains. Bursts of light hit the chains in rapid session and after about twelve tries she was able to pull them apart. She stood to her feet right as the argument between Leonardo and Kato ended.

"_Look_ you're the bitch because whenever she calls you're right there. I'm the lapdog because I _crave _her attention. There that's been decided." Kato smirked as Leonardo glared at the answer he gave.

"_Ahem_." The two boys turned to see Necia standing up straight with two glowing orbs of light in both her hands. She blew a piece of orange red hair out of her face and allowed a few seconds to pass by before she spoke. "Don't mind me, I'm just about to beat the living shit out of both of you and then go kill your queen. Not a threat at all."

Kato glanced at Leonardo, a scowl now covering his face. "_You _let her get free." He gripped the hilt of his sword and pulled the Stygian iron blade from its hilt.

"I'll take care of her. You get _it _ready." Leonardo nodded to his fellow knight and watched as the son of Pluto rushed forward towards Necia. The only woman in the room snickered to herself before moving straight ahead to meet Kato head on. She was light and he darkness — losing was to him completely and utterly _impossible_.

_Boys were so stupid_.

Necia fired a blast of light at Kato's feet and watched him jump into the air as a means to avoid the attack. A strange orange glow was starting to take over Necia's eyes — this was her first time fighting in over three months; for some reason she felt _excited_. Kato spun his blade between his fingers before tossing it down towards Necia's body. The blade hit the ground a few inches from her.

"You really should work on your aim, Kato. I don't think the queen wants a man who can't hit the target." She smiled as Kato landed on the ground with a low growl.

Shadows began to overtake the room, each one aimed at Necia's body. The daughter of light glanced around a small smirk playing on her lips. "I'm a child of _light_ Kato. Darkness can't defeat me; I'm getting out of here one way or another."

Kato nodded his head, a sadistic grin playing on his lips. "I agree. We'll be taking you out of here in pieces!" The shadows began to swirl around the room until it was completely dark; the only thing that could be clearly seen was the glowing aura around Necia's body.

Soft footsteps echoed within the darkness; each one drew the attention of Necia who responded by firing a blast of light in the direction from which the sound originated. After a few seconds of silence, Necia thought it would be best to move around the room. "Come on out Kato! Stop hiding in the shadows like a scared little _bitch_!"

Suddenly a quiet voice spoke from behind her. "W_hose hiding_?" She quickly turned around to see Kato's grinning face; she prepared to fire off a blast of light only to have her hands bound by a shadow. A cold metal that she could only assume was Kato's sword began to edge down her body. "What shall I cut off first, Duchess?"

Kato moved his sword all along her body, savoring the look of pure fear she was giving him. The first body part that he cut had to mean something important to her — it couldn't just be an arm or a leg, it had to be a part of her that she would _hate _him for taking. After a few more seconds of contemplating an idea popped into his head.

"How about that little tongue of yours, you always use it to cut down other people I think cutting it off would be the best idea I've ever had!"

Her face dropped into an expression of pure panic. Kato grinned and slowly brought his sword up to her mouth. She was giving him the expression that he'd always dreamed about. It was simply _perfect _to his eyes — a beautiful sight to see. His free hand gripped at Necia's jaw as he began to pry it open.

"You know, Duchess. I've always admired the facial expression that you make — like the day we took over the castle? That look of shock and anger was priceless."

An image runs through Necia's mind — the image of getting stabbed in the back by her ex-best friend, Edvige. Another image runs in right after the first — this one is of her friends being slaughtered and killed while everyone in the kingdom smiles and laughs. The last image hits close to her heart — it's the image of a boy fighting against Edvige with a bow in his hand. He's firing arrows only to have Edvige disintegrate them using her electricity — then she can only whimper as the image shows him falling to the ground a sword going through his chest, Lorena standing behind him.

Suddenly she snaps back into reality and notices that Kato's sword is a little to close to her mouth. Her eyes narrow onto the son of Pluto; a blazing yellow glow overtook her body and suddenly the darkness that once surrounded her returned to the same gray dungeon walls that she's grown accustomed to. With a growl she fired a blast of light right at Kato's chest and sent him sliding backwards into a wall.

Necia allowed all the energy in her body to gather up and with one loud ear-splitting scream, she released every drop of power that her body had into a huge blast aimed right at the roof of the castle. Light ripped through the stone roof and part of the wall that rested along it before shooting off into the blue sky above. She swayed in place for a second and slowly moved towards the large exit that she'd created. What she didn't do however was pay attention to the twin shadows that were coming up on either side of her.

_Damn, she was so close._

The first shadow stopped behind her. Kato jumped out and coiled his arms around Necia's waist, a small grin playing onto his face. Leonardo appeared from the one in front of her and placed black handcuffs on her hands; once he made sure they were secured he took a step back and watched the show.

Kato grinned as a black glow overtook Necia's body; he released her and watched as she fell to the ground.

She tried to get up only to crumble back to the cold marble floor below. Her eyes glanced down at the handcuffs on her hands; she tried to blast them only to find she couldn't summon even the smallest amount of light. "What in the name of Diana's virginity is happening to me?"

Leonardo smirked. "Those handcuffs are specially made, seeing as how you broke the first pair I thought _these_ might be a better fit. Each one was dipped into the river Styx after it was created — unlike my normal shadow bonds, these can actually drain light."

Kato nodded his head. "And seeing as how you're fifty percent light, these are the perfect things to help keep you quiet."

After a few more taunts and insults, the two knights and turned and headed back upstairs to their queen. Necia winced every so often from the pain that the handcuffs were causing her — she wanted to cry but wouldn't allow the tears to fall. She came close to freedom and that mattered a lot to her. The queen sent a few or her servants down to start repairing the wall that she had destroyed — she closed her eyes and allowed warm memories of a certain boy to flow into her brain. With a content sigh she was off to the world of dreams.

_While Necia lay asleep, Vitale was still trying to figure out why the hell the gods hated him_.

_-a-_

Well my current situation couldn't possibly get any worse — I was currently being held against a wall by Raul who was holding his sword up to my neck with a twisted grin. As it turned out he was a son of _Invidia _and hated being compared to children of Pluto. To the left of me stood Severa, who from what I could tell was trying to figure out which part of my arm she wanted to take. A rather interesting piece of information that my father neglected to tell me: Severa, the almighty _Sybil, _was a regular human being. This meant that if I ever got free from Raul's hold for even a micro-second, I was going to slam her face into a wall until _I _got tired.

I leaned my head backwards against the wall and sighed — maybe it would be best to accept my fate. You know just letting Severa cut off my arm; she wouldn't take my sword arm so I would still be able to function. "Vitale the one armed fighting machine!" For some reason that title sounded really nice right about now — fighting what the Fates had laid out for me didn't seem smart.

_What are you now, a coward? When did I ever once teach you it was okay to give into the Fates' plan?_

The annoyed sound of my father's voice rang in the back of my head. I rolled my eyes before wondering if I should respond back to my old man. "_I'm not a coward I'm just debating—"_

_Debating sounds a lot like giving up to me. Haven't I taught you anything? Either you die fighting or live a winner. There is no in between for a son of mine. You of all people should know that._

"Fuck off, old man." Raul and Severa glanced at me curiously. I gave a low sigh and began to weigh my options — after a few seconds it occurred to me that fighting was the only way to go for a son of Hercules. I balled my fist and nodded to myself.

_It was time for me to kick some ass_.


	3. Tres

A/N: I would like to apologize for my lack of posting in what seems like ever. First I caught the flu, then work called, and then I lost my internet. Hopefully chapter four will be out much faster than this one. This chapter is dedicated to my friend **Brian** for helping me organize the fic, helping to keep all my ideas in order, and helping me understand myths better. Thanks for that, man. As always a special thanks to Mission to Marzipan for being awsome.

_Anyhoe, get to the fic._

**Knights and Dragons**

_-a-_

I knew exactly what I wanted to do the only problem was that there wasn't a way to make it happen. My eyes were glaring in Severa's direction; she met my glare with a simple smirk and a deranged cackle. Though I'm not sure why, it was taking her a long time to remove my arm — seeing as how I was a professional in the business of decapitation, I knew that it shouldn't have taken longer than three seconds with a sharp enough sword to remove a body part.

"Mistress, do you think it would possible to hurry this up? After you remove his arm, I had planned to cut his head off." Raul grumbled as he pushed the tip of his sword to my throat.

I'm not exactly sure if I've gotten this point across or not, but Raul's an asshole. Severa growled at her slave before glaring over at him. It became apparent that she wasn't the type of woman that liked being questioned — especially not by her _slave_.

"I want this to be as painful as possible, _boy_. Who are you to question me?" I could sense a large amount of venom in her words, so much so that Raul winced and went completely silent. The son of Invidia might've been an asshole but he was Severa's _bitch _way before that.

My eyes began to wander the room as I tried to conjure up a way to escape this creepy nightmare. A small figure caught my eye and I quickly recognized it as Pietra. She was covered in blood and the ground around her was stained with she managed to get to her feet she began to look around the room trying to find a familiar face — she met my gaze and I could see a plan forming in her eyes.

She mouthed me an idea and I nodded my head; the newly formed plan was set into action. The first part of the plan was fairly simple, distract creepy and creepier.

I glanced over at Severa and began making conversation. "Not that I care or anything but what is it that you do with the sacrifices you receive?"

Her answer was simple and sweet: _growl_. I found myself chuckling, normally when a girl growled at me it wasn't because they were mad, if you catch my drift.

"From the growl I will assume that you eat them. Either that or your trying to make a friend made out of human parts." Raul didn't seem to like me talking to his mistress because he pushed his sword deeper into my throat — blood was dribbling down my chin. His eyes were gleaming silver again and he was starting to get a little reckless with the sword — that wasn't good.

Suddenly a pair of vines erupted from the ground behind Severa and Raul. The vines coiled around both their necks — I didn't know Pietra had it in her. Severa tried cutting at the vine with her dagger but it was still stuck in my arm. I saw Pietra raise her hands into the air and the vines mimicked her actions/I took this time to exhale — looked like I was finally getting a break.

Pietra flashed me a weak smile, it was becoming obvious that the daughter of Ceres was overexerting herself. The best thing for us to do would be to get the Pluto out of this place and find someone that was willing to help us. We turned away from the vines and headed towards the door. I pulled Severa's dagger out my shoulder before tossing it to the ground. We were almost there when a loud snarl sound caught both of our attention.

I glanced over my shoulder to see a fairly odd sight — Raul was clawing away at the vines with silver light covering his body. His eyes were bloodshot red and he kept growling as if he were a wild animal trying to escape from a cage. He dug both his hands into the vine and began to tear it apart. Pietra winced and focused on keeping her vines intact — I could tell from the way she looked that it wasn't going to work.

"What's going on? The last time I checked normal people didn't glow like _that_," Pietra said with a hint of worry — she was too nice for her own good!

"He's a demigod," I said while giving Rual my full attention. "That excludes him from the term _normal_." While I wouldn't say it, I knew exactly what was happening to Raul — I had seen it happen to numerous people during times of war or moments of great desperation.

It was something that could only be described as _primal instinct_. With Raul being a son of revenge maybe when he went primal, he turned into a full fledged animal. This entire situation was about to get a hell of a lot worse maybe this was the reason why the son of Invidia guarded Severa. Raul howled and the entire bar flashed with a bright light. My eyes closed a few seconds before someone gave a loud scream, I knew the voice immediately and I swore my heart broke in two.

I cracked my eyes open once the light started to fade away before opening my eyes to take in my current surroundings. The sight that rested before me made my jaw drop and my eyebrow furrow in anger. Pietra lay on the ground a few feet away from me, face down and a dagger right in the center of her back. There was a fresh puddle of blood forming underneath her.

My eyes wandered over to Raul who was standing in front of the bar spinning his sword in his hand. He was sporting an insane grin and his eyes were completely red. "Let's continue where we left off shall we?" The bastard was grinning about the entire thing like it was one big game — he had no right to do that to Pietra, she had been through enough!

"Why did you do it?" I asked in a shaky voice. Raul didn't reply he just kept spinning his sword in a slow circular motion. "_Why_… Did you do it?" This time I asked with more force to which Raul still didn't answer. There was this vaguely familiar feeling that was starting to bubble up inside of me — I gritted my teeth and took a step forward.

Raul cackled at my obvious anger. "The reason is rather simple you see that bitch managed to injure my mistress. That is something that can't go unpunished."

_That was a really shitty reason…_

"Raul," I started using the most innocent voice that I could. "I'm going to bathe in your blood."

The son of Invidia laughed before rushing in towards me with his sword swinging from right to left. With a crack of my knuckles I moved forward to meet the asshole half way — I caught his sword arm with my right hand and brought my left forward to punch him in the jaw. A grin cracked on his lips as he grabbed my hand, his fingers dug into my wrist, and he began to bend my wrist backwards — I could hear the bones creaking.

"You know," Raul said casually as he applied more pressure onto my hand. "I never paid you back for those punches you threw at me earlier." He quickly pulled his sword back from my grip and kicked me square in the chest; I stumbled backwards and regained my balance just in time to watch Raul slash me right where his kick had landed. I collapsed to my knees and tried to cover the large wound with my hands. Raul's laughter filled my ears and I could feel his eyes bearing into me. "Bowing is one way to earn forgiveness."

I coughed up a little blood and glared up at my foe. The bastard was wearing a smug grin.

"What's wrong?" he asked with mock curiosity. "Is the son of the _mighty _Hercules beaten this easily? Not sure why I'm all that surprised, your father is just a D-list son of Jupiter who tries to act like a real god."

Suddenly my father's voice rang in both my ears.

_**DESTROY HIM!**_

I was on my feet in a matter of seconds — there was one rule that every child of Hercules learned from birth: n_ever _let anyone insult your heritage. I ripped off my shirt with hardly any effort and wrapped it around my chest as a means to stop the blood from spilling out on the floor.

Raul pointed his sword towards me and smirked. "Ready for round four?" My body shifted into autopilot and the next thing I knew, my fist was firing towards Raul's jaw. He brought his sword up to block though that didn't exactly go as planned — when my fist collided with the blade a lengthy crack appeared right in the middle of it. My lips curled into a smirk as I gripped hold of the sword and began applying a nice amount of pressure to the blade. After a few seconds of squeezing a nice _crack_ filled my ears and I jumped away from Raul.

I opened my hand and allowed the broken imperial bronze sword to spin gently between my fingers.

_That's one for the son of Hercules and zero for the insane son-of-a-bitch with the sword._

Raul stood in awe with nothing more than a hilt in his hand — he tossed his weapon to the ground and spoke with tons of venom in his words. "I prefer using my hands anyway." His body rushed towards me and I couldn't help but to grin — he just sealed his own fate.

I tossed the blade into the air and caught it before rushing off to the left of Raul. His eyes opened wide when I passed him by. He growled when he figured out what or rather who my target really. His footsteps echoed in my ear and I glanced over my shoulder to see that he was right behind me — _perfect_. My body slid to a halt and with a twist of my heels, my elbow rammed right into Raul's face. I grabbed a hand full of his hair and pulled his body back towards mine — with a somewhat twisted grin I stabbed the broken piece of his sword right into his stomach.

My fingers released his hair and I watched in silence as he stumbled backwards, his eyes locked onto the sword that now rested a few inches above his ribcage. "You know," I started as I advanced towards him. "I never paid you back for hitting me earlier."

His eyes opened wide after I finished my sentence. I poured all the divine power I had into my left hand, cocked it backwards, and looked at him with a sneer of superiority before finally ramming my first into his sternum. He let out a loud scream as he body flew through the walls of the bar — hopefully he landed some where far _far _away. I staggered over to Pietra's body and lifted her bloody form into my arms. "Now, I'm going to get you some help."

I headed towards the door just as I saw Severa's body start to twitch — there was no way in Pluto that I was staying around to go another round with the Sybil. My pace increased and I exited the bar with a calm sigh. Now I needed to figure out where exactly I could go — the image of an old friend flickered into my mind and I nodded my head. I slowly started to walk around the kingdom getting weird looks from spectators on account of the body in my arms; I stopped a young man and asked him a fairly simple question.

"Excuse me? Can you tell me where I can find the son of Neptune?"

_-x-_

The Neptune aquarium was closed for the day — the owner of the shop, Davide, closed shop early on account of a special visitor that stopped by during shop hours. His day was boring before his girlfriend decided to stop by and pester him with talk of things that she planned on doing to him. He rushed everyone out of the aquarium, locked the door, and turned off the lights within three seconds flat and that, my friends, is how he ended up in his current position of laying on the ground with his girlfriend, Nicoletta, straddling his hips with a lustful smile.

"Are you sure about this? You know what happened the last time we tried to…" A pink blush crept onto the face of Davide; the topic of sex was always a rough subject for him. He was a rather sensitive soul and talking about things like sex made him feel awkward. Even if he _was _an eighteen-year-old who had a sixteen-year-old girlfriend that could do this thing with her tongue that made him go weak in the knees — yeah, sex was still an awkward subject even with all that.

Nicoletta rolled her eyes and planted a soft kiss on her boyfriend's jaw line; she found his awkwardness absolutely adorable — if not a little sexy. She knew more about the human body than he did and she used every chance that she could get to make sure he knew it.

"I know exactly what happened last time, love," she said with a smirk that made Davide shiver out of anticipation and nervousness. "We were both half way through with losing our virginity, you got nervous, _screamed like a girl_, and caused a massive earthquake." Her fingers slipped under his shirt; Davide responded to it by whimpering like a lost puppy that had finally managed to return to the warmth of its master.

"What — what if someone walks in on us?" the son of Neptune asked before yelping at the feeling of a finger pinching his nipple. Nicoletta met his eyes for a second before raising her free hand into the air. Grape vines shot out of the ground in front of the already locked door and coiled around it.

"There! Happy? Now shut up and enjoy it!"

She leaned down over her lover making sure to cover him in a veil of blond curls before pressing her lips firmly onto his. Davide's shaking hands eventually found their way to her waist. While the two made out Nicoletta's fingers began to wander over her boyfriend's body — she knew every inch of his body like it was the back of her hand. It was easy for her to find the places that made him moan for more; it made sense seeing as how they'd been a couple for more than two years now.

Soon the two of them needed to come up for air so she broke the kiss and moved her face up a few inches so they could breathe. "Davide, these _have _to go." Her fingers tugged gently at his pants and his eyes widened ever so slightly before closing as he nodded his head — he trusted her. She smiled at him and leaned back in, claiming his lips as her own, before gripping hold of his pants and slipped them off with a little help from her soon to be lover.

After about thirty minutes of soft whispers, low moans, and intense kisses the two demigods were partially naked lying on the ground of the aquarium with their limbs tangled together. Everything was perfect; there was no way that the moment of peace that covered the two of them could be interrupted.

_Oh I beg to differ._

Vitale pushed forcefully against the doors of the Neptune Aquarium using his shoulder because both his arms were occupied. He growled in frustration when the door wouldn't open.

"What the Pluto is going on in there?" He rammed against the door again before calling out to his friend on the inside. "Davide are you in there? Open this damned door! It's an emergency."

The two lovers inside where none the wiser of yelling because of the panting that had started up again. Vitale's teeth gritted in frustration and with a ram of his shoulder the door began to slowly give in to his strength — with another push the door creaked in defiance. Vitale took a step back, raised his leg into the air, and slammed his foot against the door — the vines that were binding it from inside began to snap with each kick he sent at the door. He pulled back one final time and with a loud grunt he kicked the door down. Everything that Vitale had seen in his life couldn't prepare him for what waited for him inside of the aquarium.

Davide groaned quietly and began to move his hips in an upward motion as he rubbed his body against that of the lovely girl on top of him. He opened his eyes, kissed his girlfriend, and slowly took notice of the hazel eyes that were staring at him. "_Damnable Diana…"_

Nicoletta opened her eyes and followed her boyfriends gaze all the way to Vitale, who was staring at the two of them and holding a bloody girl in his arms and a red blush on his face. She, unlike her boyfriend, wasn't worried about being caught but other problems began to swirl around in her head.

She was naked.

She was naked in front of a random guy.

She was naked in front of a random guy that was looking at her like she was a piece of meat.

With a loud scream she threw one of her shoes at Vitale before running into the back room. Davide rolled to his feet and ran behind one of the fish tanks in order to put his pants and shirt back on. Vitale just stood there with this _really _stupid grin covering his face. "That looked like it was pretty hot."

Davide appeared from behind a tank fully clothed and glared at his long time friend. "Do you think that you could've knocked before barging in? I was in the middle of something!"

Vitale nodded his head. "I _did _knock, I guess you were to busy moaning to notice." The son of Neptune's face began to glow a bright shade of pink. "Now if you're quite done moaning your girlfriend's name, my friend needs help."

Davide's eyes shifted from Vitale to the small bloody figure that rested in his arms. He nodded his head and motioned him towards the back. "Follow me."

The back of the aquarium was a large pool for the fish to swim in and a small box that looked like it was made for two people. A large tiger shark jumped out of the water with a predatory grin before returning underwater. Vitale's hair stood on end as he glanced around. This was his first time ever seeing a fish _that _big up close.

"Lay her on the ground," Davide instructed. The son of Hercules nodded and placed the small daughter of Ceres on the ground. Davide kneeled down next to Pietra before glancing up at Vitale. "I assure you, what's about to happen is entirely for her own safety."

Vitale blinked and watched as his friend ripped the shirt Pietra was wearing off her body. His eyebrows knitted together while his teeth gritted in frustration. "I didn't ask you to strip her down!" He took a step towards the two only to have vines sprout from the ground and coil around his body. "Calm down muscle boy, he's trying to help."

His eyes shifted from Davide, who was putting his hands all over Pietra and smearing some strange liquid over her body, over to the voice he had just heard. He gave a slight grin when he saw the girl from earlier sitting a few feet away from him rubbing the shark's nose.

"Nice of you to put some clothes on," he said allowing his grin to grow. "Though the no clothes thing worked perfect for you."

The vines started to tighten around his body and he felt some of the thorns slip into the numerous cuts that rested on his skin. He winced from the pain before chuckling. "I guess this means shut up?"

Nicoletta glared at him before glancing back at her boyfriend who was now using his ability over water to heal the small girl that she vaguely recognized from the village as Pietra. She honestly didn't see why Davide was wasting his time helping out the daughter of Ceres; the two of them were never on good terms because of an argument that had happened a few years prior. The argument was about who could grow the best fruit — something to a normal person would've been laughable but to the two girls it was as serious as a heart attack.

"Shut up is right; he's going to heal your girlfriend."

Vitale glanced at Davide with a look of doubt — he knew that the boy could control water, but healing was a little far fetched.

Davide covered his palm in a thin layer of water and began to distribute it in accordance to where the cuts and bruises were on Pietra's body. He could only smirk once the cuts began to seal up and the bruises faded as if they were never there to begin with. Vitale's mouth hung open in disbelief; he learned a rather important lesson that day.

_Never doubt a son of Neptune when he's near water._

_-x-_

Queen Edvige stood quietly on the balcony of her palace. One of her favorite pastimes was looking down over her kingdom; it gave her a feeling of power. Her eyes shifted from the buildings below to a flock of birds that were flying over her head. A frown formed on her lips at the feeling of something being above her in this life.

"How dare you," she said with a low growl. Her hand rose into the air and a bolt of pure concentrated lightning struck the entire flock; the poor birds didn't have a chance in the world. The queen watched their bodies fall to the ground with this really big grin on her face. "There. That's much better."

Edvige had this really bad thing about _anything _being above her both literally and figuratively. She didn't take the kingdom from Necia because she was going to be a better ruler; she took it because she craved power. Most people would say that the need to rule was in her blood — after all, her father was Jupiter. If you asked other people they might say it had nothing to do with heritage and the bitch was just crazy.

A black portal opened up within the queen's private room and Kato stepped through while pushing a few strands of black hair out of his eyes. He walked to his queen's side before glancing out at the darkening night sky. Unlike his queen he didn't enjoy looking down over the kingdom; every time he got even remotely close to the kingdom or its people, all he saw was a place where worms crawled around freely. If he were king the entire place would be destroyed and rebuilt into a true kingdom, a place that would make even Olympus look feeble. Of course that was only a selfish dream.

"Did you find anything useful, my pet?" Edvige asked with a hint of curiosity in her tone.

Kato gave her a light smile (well, seeing as how he was a child of Pluto it came out as a twisted grin). "I've caught word of a fight that happened in the Bacchus Bar earlier today. It seems that a son of Hercules received a prophecy from the Sybil and didn't give a sacrifice."

Edvige arched her brow. "What was the outcome?"

"Sadly I didn't get all the details of the fight. All that I know for sure is that the Bacchus Bar is horrible condition and that that son of Hercules could cause problems some where down the line."

The queen nodded her head. "I want your skeleton animals to perform a sweep of the city tonight, find anyone who can tell me who that kid is. Take Leonardo with you. He'll make things go quicker."

Kato frowned and tried his best to hide it from his queen. After the dispute that happened in the dungeon the two weren't on speaking terms — not to say that they were before but it was worse now. He gave quiet sigh before nodding his head. "Yes Ma'am."

"Is there anything else that you have to report?"

"A spy of mine over in Paris caught sight of a rather _odd _character."

"What exactly made said person odd?" the queen asked while sending a blast of electricity up towards a bird that soared over her castle. "I _really_ hate those things."

Kato glanced at her before watching the bird's dead body fall to the ground. A peasant caught the corpse and slowly began to devour the poor creature. He shifted his attention from the ground back to the crescent moon that was rising from behind a hill that covered the kingdom. Edvige looked lovely in the moonlight — you could actually see the field of electricity that emitted off her body. His body moved towards her and his arms found their way around her waist.

"I'll help you stand above everything," he said in a quiet voice. Their eyes met and somewhere between right and wrong their lips met in a kiss. If Venus was actually watching the two demigods she would've been frowning because honestly, that is so not how she wanted Edvige's love life to go.

In the darkness of the queen's room, a figure stood silently in the shadows, his eyes blazing with a dark killing intent. Leonardo gave a low half growl as jealousy rippled through his soul — Kato's intrusion on his territory hadn't gone unnoticed and it sure as hell wouldn't go unpunished. No matter what it took, the son of Pluto was going to fall by his hands. That was a promise.

Kato pulled back from his queen and looked into her eyes — a pair of electric blue eyes stared back at him. He chuckled quietly to himself before turning and opening a shadow portal. "I'm off to patrol, Ma'am."

Edvige halted him by raising her hand. "You never told me what made the person odd."

The son of Pluto stopped in his tracks and contemplated the best way to tell his mistress the news. Once a general idea had formed in his brain he turned to face her. There was this odd solemn look covering his face as he spoke.

"The person was odd because he looked exactly like the manwhore son of Cupid that you threw out of the kingdom a few months ago."

Edvige's eyes opened wide and her mouth fell open. The image of blonde haired boy slipped into her head and a growl rippled through her throat — there was only one thought that rested in her mind at this point.

_He must be destroyed._


	4. Quatuor

_A/N: Just how long has it been Fanfiction? Seems like its been far too long seeing as how I've lost internet at home that being said, am I the only person that notices that school computers run **super** slow? __I'm uber pleased with the way this chapter turned out because it has something for everyone. Thanks as always to Mission to Marzipan for the pep talk and beta work. Anywhore, enough of my banter onto the good stuff._

**Knights and Dragons**

The rays of the early morning sun shone down on the large kingdom of Verita. Most of the inhabitants were fast asleep because waking up before ten wasn't something they liked to do. However, if a person were to awake at such an hour they would be in for a _very _interesting sight. Severa, the legendary Sybil, was crawling through the kingdom dragging the bloody body of her bodyguard behind her. Tears were sliding down her face and her smirk had all but completely disappeared. This was the first time she had cried in almost six years — even if she was the Sybil, the thought of losing her only friend in the world was more than enough to send her into the black hole that was despair. At this point there was only one place she could go for help — she would just pray that the right person answered the door when she knocked.

After about thirty minutes of dragging Raul's body, stopping to wipe the tears from her eyes, and cursing Vitale, she made it to the large castle that rested in the center of the kingdom. Severa bit down on her bottom lip and leaned Raul up against the castle wall. She placed her hand against the door and knocked with everything she had. Most of the people inside of the castle were sleeping — one person just happened to be walking towards the door when they heard the loud knocking.

Severa placed her hand on the hilt of her dagger just as the door creaked open. Her eyes widened in a look of shock at the person that stood before her. "_You_."

Achilles Nova tried his very best not to laugh at the rude greeting that he had just received. His eyes met with the Sybil and a wide grin spread over his lips.

"Severa," he said with a snicker. "It's _so_ good to see you! I hope you're not still upset about what happened last time I saw you."

The son of Mercury was just barely able to dodge the dagger that was flying in his immediate direction. His eyebrow slowly began to twitch as he glared in Severa's direction. He opened his mouth to say something smart but stopped once his eyes fell onto the broken body that rested a few feet away from him. With the bruises and blood that covered it was hard for Achilles to identify the body — once he realized who it was his eyes opened wide. "What in the name of Diana's virginity happened to him?"

"He got into a fight with a son of Hercules." She exhaled silently and tried to keep the tears from flowing down. Crying in front of a low life like Achilles would've been disgraceful. "The idiot was doing his job and trying to protect me from harm."

Achilles watched her in silence making sure to take note of every move she made. He took notice of the sadness that came to her eyes whenever she looked at Raul's battered form. Not even the way she inched towards the son of Invidia every so often escaped his gaze. One didn't have to be a child of Venus to understand what Severa was feeling, even if she didn't know what it was he knew full well.

_The legendary Sybil was in love!_

Achilles smirked before pulling Raul's body up so that he was standing. Severa's dagger was at his throat in a matter of seconds. "What the _fuck _do you think you're doing?"

"I know someone who can help him. Plus I figure seeing as how I almost got you killed by the Queen, the least I can do is help your boyfriend."

"He is not my boyfriend!" Severa screamed while following Achilles into the large castle. The son of Mercury only chuckled at her reaction before heading towards the foot of a flight of stairs to the left of the castle. Achilles made sure to cover Raul in a thick veil of mist so that most people couldn't see him — walking around with the Sybil was suspicious, but hauling around a half-dead body was far worse.

Once the two reached the top of the stairs they were greeted by a large white marble wall.

Severa arched her eyebrow up. "Why is there a large wall in the middle of a staircase?"

Achilles snorted. "Because sometimes we need to hide things from the queen."

He placed his hand on the large wall before him and pushed in. A piece of the wall moved inward and gave a loud click — the wall in front of them disappeared and was replaced by a large black cave. Severa arched her eyebrow up in a fit of curiosity even if she was the Sybil; a magical wall wasn't something she saw often. She followed silently after Achilles; occasionally she would glance around and try to find something special about the cave. After the sixth look around she was convinced that it was just a normal cave.

"We're here." Achilles announced before coming to a stop.

Severa opened her eyes wide and stared in amazement at the large room that extended around her. Gray marble covered the entire room — it looked almost like it was built completely separate from the cave. Large tables sat all around the place and each one had a different sized beaker on top of it. In all of her years of living, Severa had never seen something so magnificent. Her eyes took in the sight of the large room before stopping on the form of a girl that rested right in front of her on one of the tables. She had shoulder-length brown hair and a small blue dragon on her shoulder.

"How did you manage to hide this from Edvige? Wouldn't she notice a huge laboratory in the middle of her castle?" Severa asked while walking around the large room.

"If you remember correctly," the girl in front of her said while writing something down, "this castle belonged to _Necia _first."

The Sybil growled once she registered exactly who the voice belonged to. Achilles smirked and laid Raul's body down on one of the many tables before stepping over to the girl. She turned from her work and revealed a pair of dark green eyes. Severa averted her gaze to Raul because meeting _those _eyes would be painful.

"Severa I would like you to meet one of Necia's eldest knights, Carmine. She was—"

"I know who she is," Severa said with a growl. Achilles blinked and glanced at Carmine who still stood with a smile. He couldn't exactly put his finger on it but, there was a strange tension around the two girls.

"Did something happen between the two of you?" the son of Mercury asked with an arched brow.

Carmine shrugged her shoulders and moved towards Raul's body. Her eyes seemed to scan him for a second before she gave a soft sigh. "I can save him now. All you have to do is ask."

Severa bit down on her lip and glared at Carmine. The girl before her looked almost exactly the same as the last time she saw her — of course the last time they met Carmine's father was trying to ask Severa on a date. Apollo really was a horn dog and would've liked nothing more than to have both Carmine and herself in bed. No matter how many times she looked at the daughter of Apollo she could always see _his _eyes. With all that in her mind, asking Carmine for help was out of the question — she would have to heal him using the power she got from her father and that would be to much like asking Apollo himself to heal Raul.

Severa growled aloud and glanced at Raul's decrepit body — she could still see his chest fall and rise. Her eyes fell back on Carmine who was still giving her a warm smile. "Stop looking at me like that you bitch," she said with venom in her voice.

Achilles stepped in front of Severa, his brows knitted together in a look of frustration. "She's offering to keep him alive. Why can't you just ask—,"

"Achilles, it's fine," Carmine said while placing her hand on the shoulder of her friend. She turned away from him and glanced at Raul, whose breathing had long since slowed. Her right hand extended out to him and a bright light gleamed off the tips of her fingers — within seconds his breathing returned to normal. After about thirty minutes, some of his wounds were starting to disappear. Achilles smirked at Carmine's handiwork; the girl could work miracles that even Edvige couldn't believe. Hell, it was because of her that he was still breathing.

Severa stood in the corner of the room watching as someone else healed her property — someone who reminded her so much of the man she hated more than anything in this world. She couldn't watch because that would've been like surrendering to Apollo's power.

_That bitch had some serious sun god issues…_

_-a-_

I gave a quiet sigh and ran my fingers through Pietra's hair. She glared back at me and I could only smile. Her eyes were gleaming with this strange light, almost as if she was seeing the world for the first time — Davide had managed to bring her back from the brink of death and I guess she decided now would be a good time to start really enjoying life. My eyes shifted from her onto Davide, who rested a few feet away from me with Nicoletta perched on his lap. The two were whispering softly to each other and occasionally their lips would meet in a kiss.

I glanced at Pietra again, though this time the thought of smashing our mouths together was running wild through my mind.

Her face was curled in a look of disgust and she shifted uncomfortably before sighing. "Those two are nauseating."

Nicoletta's eyes opened; as she pulled herself from Davide's mouth, she twisted her body around so that she was facing the two of us.

"What's wrong Pietra, jealous because you don't have anyone to make out with? You could always make out with that blundering wall of muscles." She grinned before pointing in my direction.

"As if," Pietra snapped back with a glare. "Unlike you I understand the concept of not being a complete _whore _who goes after old men just for the sex."

My eyes meet Davide and we mouthed a few words that I'm sure would one day become legendary amongst the male sex: _catfight_. Nicoletta shifted so that her legs were on the ground and moved towards Pietra with a snarl — the daughter of Ceres stood up and met her foe somewhere in the middle. Both girls had an old-fashioned stare off before the first move was made.

"I dare you to say that again _bitch_." Nicoletta's hand moved behind her back, I could hear the sound of a blade moving against a sheath. The ground below Pietra started to shift and vines slithered out of the ground.

"You're a little whore!" Pietra smirked at Nicoletta's aggravated expression. The daughter of Bacchus growled before lunging towards Pietra — a vine lashed out and blocked her attempted slash. In a matter of seconds the vine was coiled around Nicoletta's arm. Slowly Nicoletta's body rose upward into the air and a scream of pain rang out through the entire aquarium. I saw a few of the fish stop swimming and look at the fight that was going on.

"Come on now girls," Davide said while standing up. "Can we just resolve this peacefully? We still need to break down this prophecy that Vitale has been bragging about."

Pietra glared up at Nicoletta before releasing her onto the ground. The daughter of Bacchus returned to Davide's side a few seconds later. Even though neither of them said anything I could tell that this catfight was far from over. Once Pietra was at my side Davide motioned me to let him hear the prophecy. I opened my mouth and allowed the words to flow freely.

"_Son of Salvatore, the mad queen's reign will those oppose.  
_

_In shadows of wind will death and darkness show._

_The one blessed of light must then ascend._

_To the world's vast stage, or the end will begin."_

Davide nodded his head after I finished and I could see him breaking down the lines of the prophecy. From as far back as I could remember Davide had always been one of my smartest friends — he was always coming up with plans for different things. Once he finished processing everything I guessed it was time for the two of us to compare notes.

"The first line is easy. _Son of Salvatore _obviously refers to Vitale and the _mad queen _is Edvige. I assume that the next line refers to the queen's knights — each with their own respective powers. Wind is Lorena, death is Kato, and darkness is Leonardo."

It made sense once I thought about it; I had seen two of the three knights when I had first arrived in the kingdom. Not even all of those rebels could take them out — I would need more than two people if I had any plans for taking down the queen. Seeing as how this was a rather large kingdom, I assumed that she had more than just three knights. At this rate I would need an entire army if I wanted to stand even a ghost of a chance.

"What about the next two lines?" Pietra asked.

"_The one blessed of light_ is the former ruler of the kingdom, Necia. Edvige removed her from power a few months ago. From what I can tell of the ending, this means that Necia must return to the throne or something really bad is going to happen."

I allowed all the information Davide had just told me to sink in. Something big was going to happen if we didn't get this Necia chick back on her throne.

Davide rubbed his chin and sighed. "If you want to end Edvige's rule I would suggest getting someone that knew her before she became queen."

"Who would be best for that job?" I asked with an arched brow.

The son of Neptune shrugged. "The people that lived in the castle before Edvige took over are all dead. Necia's knights were killed and their bodies burned."

I could feel the overwhelming feeling of hopelessness setting in — from everything that Davide just told me defeating the queen would be next to impossible. The only people that could even remotely help me were nothing more than ashes at this point.

"Not everyone was killed you know,"

Everyone in the room turned their attention to Nicoletta. Davide arched his eyebrow at her words. "Is there someone living that I wasn't informed of?"

The daughter of Bacchus shook her head. "I wouldn't say that, more like someone you're forgetting." Davide's facial expression shifted from curious to a look of disgust; obviously the person that Nicoletta had in mind wasn't someone that he was all that fond of.

"You can't mean that _manwhore. _Lorena stabbed him right through the heart and left him outside of the castle to die. There's no way in Pluto that he's still alive."

Nicoletta arched her eyebrow. "How can you be so sure of that? I've got a friend over in France that swears by Jupiter that she's seen him once or twice."

"I've been hearing the same rumors," Pietra added in with a nod. "A few of my sisters live in that area and say they've seen him as well — apparently he opened up a shop in Paris and his living out his life there."

I was tired of being left out of the conversation so I stepped in. "Who exactly are we talking about?"

"A manwhore," everyone said at exactly the same time. I glanced around the room and found that everyone was wearing the same expression — a look of complete and utter disgust. Either this guy had fucked with a lot of people while he lived at the castle or everyone had a really negative view of him.

"What exactly did this guy do?" I asked trying my best to understand why they all hated him so much.

Nicoletta was the first one to speak up. "He's the reason that Edvige was able to take over — he was Necia's boyfriend and made her lose her edge. When he came into the kingdom, she started ignoring her duties as Duchess. With her out of the way, Edvige had a free pass to take over the place."

Both Davide and Pietra nodded in agreement.

"Do you guys know how to get in contact with this guy?"

"You can't be serious," Davide started with a growl. "This guy is nothing but trouble — he's a selfish bastard that loves playing around with other people's emotions. Almost everyone in the kingdom hated him."

I shrugged my shoulders. "If he can help us take down the current regime then I don't see anything wrong with him."

"You don't know this guy like we do!"

"Maybe that's why I'm willing to ask him for help. I don't have anything against him like the rest of you guys do."

Silence filled the room. I glanced around trying to find a friend in the midst of all the negative feelings — my eyes fell on Pietra and I could see her giving me that beautiful reassuring smile. My mind started going crazy with the image of us kissing again.

"I think it'd be alright to reach out to him," she started nervously. "Maybe he's changed in these last few months."

Davide and Pietra still wore their solemn expressions. It seemed that convincing them would be harder than I had originally planned.

"If you can get us a ride, I'm in," Davide said with a fake smile. I guessed that our years of friendship earned me a small amount of trust. My lips curled into a grin and I nodded to him in thanks.

"I won't help you," Nicoletta said with a stubborn nod. "I'm only going to go on this little adventure is because I don't want any of those scandalous sluts to hook their claws in Davide." Her eyes cut into Pietra like a hot knife.

"Well… I suppose we'll set out for Paris tonight, we might be able to make it there by morning."

Nicoletta and Davide headed towards the back while Pietra and I stood around look at all of the fish that rested around us. "Think you can change this place?"

I glanced over at Pietra before shrugging my shoulders. "Dad sent me here to do it — if he believes in me then I guess it'll get done."

Pietra moved her body close to mine and gave me a half smile. "He's not the only one that believes in you." Suddenly her lips were pressing against my cheek. "Try not to die out there muscle boy." My arms found their way to her waist and I couldn't help but think that this was one of the sweetest moments of my life. In the background I could hear Davide and Nicoletta giggling at us.

_I suppose this is what happiness feels like._

_-a-_

The trip to Paris went a lot smoother and faster than most of my friends had expected. I'm guessing that they were used to walking from place to place and thought I was going to do the same. _They were dead wrong_. As it turned out I had a friend that could help us get to our destination in more than half the time it would've took if we walked. My friend's name was Cosimo the dragon; he was a friend of the family and one of the only things that my father had given me in this world. Thanks to Cosimo I only had to listen to Nicoletta's complaining for about ten hours instead of twenty.

Once we arrived in Paris, the only thing that we had to do was locate the shop that Pietra had mentioned. Of course none of us knew exactly where in Paris the mystery guy _was, _sowe walked around for a few hours getting ourselves acquainted with the large city. From what Davide had told of me of our mystery man he was a flirt who had a bad tendency to fuck around with people's hearts. With all that in mind there was only one place that I thought he could be.

"How about we look for a sex shop?"

Pietra was the first one to shoot me a glare — I put my hands up in surrender and took a step back. "I didn't mean like _that_! If this guy is such a manwhore then wouldn't he work there?"

Davide nodded his head in agreement which earned him a glare from Nicoletta. "That seems logical but where would we find a sex shop?"

Nicoletta cried. "Just follow the boners in your pants; I'm sure they'll lead you in the right direction."

"I hate to agree with the two horn dogs but, look." We all followed Pietra's finger to a pair of girls that were wobbling down the street. They're bodies were covered with sweat and their silver armor seemed to be on backwards. Nicoletta arched her eyebrow. "What do two confused chicks have to do with anything?"

Sweating, walking like they had sticks up their asses, and they moaned every three seconds.

"They just had some really good sex." I blurted out absentmindedly. My rather stupid outburst earned me glares from Pietra and Nicoletta — Davide used this time to slip out of the conversation and go ask the girls a few questions. Of course that meant that I was left alone with two pissed off women — damn that bastard.

Pietra was the one to start the questions. "How exactly do you know what _good _sex is, Vitale?"

I opened my mouth and found that a series of stammers were the only thing I could give in reply. While it was true that I never actually mentioned that I _wasn't _a virgin I really liked Pietra and making her any madder didn't seem like a good choice — so I did something that highly logical. I lied.

"I don't know much about sex. My dad told me a few things here and there."

Pietra's eyes were boring into and for a second I thought she was going to call me on my lie. Thankfully Davide ran back to the group with some new found information and saved my ass. I turned away from Pietra and called out to him. "Find out anything good?"

"Those girls just came from the Cupid House of Sex. I'm pretty sure this is the place we're looking for."

"Where is it?" Nicoletta asked.

"Right in the middle of town — from what they told me you can't miss it."

We all nodded and headed off towards the center of town. Every so often I glanced over at Pietra and found her glaring at me — it would take a Pluto of a lot before she forgave me for the sex comment. Just one more thing I had to fix while working on repairing the kingdom.

Once we arrived at the center of town we were greeted by an astounding sight. A large building stood before us; at first glance it looked like every other building in town but upon closer inspection some things were different. There was a velvet glow surrounding the large shop and the faint smell of passion fruit seemed to spread out around it. We stepped through the door and found that the shop's inside was much larger than the outside. There were bookshelves on the back wall and multiple paintings of Venus along with baby Cupid all over the side walls. In front of us lay a wooden desk that formed a semi-circle; behind the desk sat a young man looking to be about seventeen. He had bright blonde hair that was so bright that it almost looked gold; it went down to the nape of his neck and curled at the ends. His eyes were blue and gleamed with the light of the sun.

When he noticed we were there his eyes shifted from the writing pad in front of him onto me. "Hello and welcome to the Cupid House of Sex where we're pleased to pleasure you."

That had to be _the _weirdest greeting I'd ever heard in my life. My eyes shifted over to Davide. "Is this the guy we've been looking for?"

Davide's eyes locked onto the receptionist and his brow arched up. "This isn't the guy — he doesn't look anything like I remember."

"Hey kid do you know where the owner of this shop is?"

"I would hope so seeing as how I work for him. I'm Saverio, now do you have an appointment?" Saverio flashed a smile in Pietra's direction and winked.

I stepped in front of my group and sneered. "We're here on divine orders. Lord Hercules sent us himself."

His brow arched at my comment and he grabbed a clipboard from his desk. A frown formed on his lips before he shook his head. "I'm sorry but Hercules doesn't have a reservation. I'll have to ask you to leave — or come up with a better lie."

I sighed. "Look we just want to talk with the owner."

Saverio shrugged. "I want to do my job but that's pretty hard when a muscle brained idiot is trying to tell me to let him and his friends through without an appointment."

It became clear to me that this asshole wasn't going to listen to reason so maybe force would be a better option. I marched up to his desk, punched my hands through the wood, and lifted the large desk over my head. Saverio's eyes showed a look of panic — I grunted before slamming the desk down onto where he was seated. I held the broken remains of the desk in my hands and expected to see the broken body of Saverio at my feet. Of course, actually being able to hit him would've made things far too simple.

My eyes wandered down to find nothing more than a couple of pens. "Looks like you missed."

I shifted from eyes from the floor onto the back wall and found Saverio standing there with his hands in his pockets and a smug smirk on his face. "How did you get back there?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I moved." His right hand extended out and a sword made completely out of light appeared within his hand. The next thing I knew he was standing in front of me with his sword at my throat.

I felt a strange heat emitting from the sword and couldn't help but to take a step back. "What — what are _you_?"

"I'm a demigod just like you and your friends."

My fist curled and I prepared myself for a fight. "I can't disappear and reappear like that."

"Then it must suck to be you." Saverio pulled his sword backwards and pushed it forward towards my head. My eyes closed and I expected to feel something stab through my throat — to my surprise I heard Saverio groan. I opened my eyes to find Saverio hovering in the air above me with a pair of vines coiled around his waist. The grapes on the vines helped me realize that Nicoletta had just saved my ass — I cocked my fist back and threw a punch at Saverio's head. Unfortunately he was a little faster than I had originally anticipated and met my punch with the tip of his sword. A wave of heat shot through my arm and traveled all the way up to my spine — getting cut by that thing was a _really_ bad idea.

"You're not all that bright are you?" Saverio asked me as he pulled back his sword. His eyes shifted from me onto someone behind me and he moved the sword so that the tip was facing my head. He grunted and immediately the blade extended outward and shot past my head. I glanced backwards just in time to see the tip of the sword stab Nicoletta's shoulder. She screamed and the vines that she summoned earlier withered away, allowing Saverio freedom. His fingers curled tighter around the light sword and I could tell that it was causing Nicoletta more pain.

He cleared his throat. "Now unless you want me to remove her arm I suggest you leave."

For a brief second I had a flashback to when Severa tried to remove my arm. This guy was going into the exact same category as her: _fucking crazy_.

A blurred figure passed right beside me and within a few seconds Saverio was on the ground with Davide standing over him, trident in hand. In all the years that I knew Davide I had only seen him get mad once and that was when a few daughters of Minerva attacked his house — to this day I've never seen an earthquake so massive.

"Just who in the name of Neptune do you think you are?" Davide asked as water began to pool around his feet from some of the cracks in the floor.

Saverio cackled and squirmed underneath the trident. "The last child of Neptune that was in here almost destroyed the place because her orgasm caused a _huge _flood! Let's see what you can do."

A burst of light shot out of Saverio's hand and sent Davide sliding backwards. Saverio flipped to his feet and grinned. His eyes were gleaming with a powerful light — it felt as if I was looking straight into the sun.

"I am Saverio Medici son of Phoebus, god of sun rays and shining light." He exhaled as two blades composed of light appeared within his hands.

"It makes sense," Pietra said while passing a piece of ambrosia to Nicoletta. "He's the son of a light god, that disappearing act is just him moving at the speed of light!"

"I swear some demigods get all the amazing powers." Nicoletta whined as her shoulder began to repair itself.

"Doesn't matter now," Davide said through gritted teeth. "He's going down."

With that said Davide slammed his trident on the ground and created a fissure right in the middle of the shop. His eyes gleamed with power as large amounts of water began pooling around his feet. Saverio's grin grew wider at the sight of Davide's newfound strength. The son of Neptune rushed forward with water spiraling around his trident — he took aim and fired a blast of water right at Saverio. A discharge of light cut the water down the middle — I saw Saverio's smirking face as Davide brought up his trident to block a slash that was aimed at his shoulder. Explosions of light and water filled the entire shop. My battle senses were tingling and the urge to fight was slowly overtaking me.

"I can't let that bastard have all the glory!" I yelled before moving past Davide's body and bringing my fist up to punch Saverio in the face — he pulled a disappearing act and vanished when I got within two inches of him. He reappeared in front of the rubble that was his desk only this time he didn't look so good. His face was pale and his eyes seemed to be lacking that light from earlier.

Davide arched his eyebrow. "Looks like traveling at the speed of light tires him out. He's just a sitting duck now."

Saverio pulled himself together and glared at Davide. "I have more than enough energy left to take care of you."

It seemed that Davide wanted to test out that theory. He raised his trident in the air and a blue energy seemed to expand out around the weapon — with a grunt he threw the trident forward. Saverio's eyes opened wide as he extended his hands out in front of him. I would love to tell you that the trident cut through his body like butter and that he died on the spot but, of course, something like that would've made everything way to easy.

Instead, a wall of solid light appeared in front of his body and stopped the trident in its tracks. He smirked and dropped the wall, allowing the trident to fall.

"See I told you I had more than—"He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence on account of my fist slamming into his face. I watched in silence as he slid across the shop's floor and came to a stop at the wall behind him. Unlike my buddy Raul he didn't stay down for long; instead he wobbled to his feet and glared at me.

Light energy began to swirl around his fist and I could tell from his expression that he wanted to have a punching contest. I cracked my knuckles with a smirk before shooting forward towards his steadily paling body. He moved towards me with a solemn expression and we were supposed to meet some where in the middle.

_Nothing ever goes the way I want it to_.

Right as our fists were about to meet something struck me in the neck and I went staggering backwards. My eyes shifted to Saverio and I could see his body moving in the same pattern as mine. I hit the ground before glancing at the arrow that was extending out of my neck — it missed anything vital but, for some reason, I felt myself losing consciousness. Saverio mumbled something about an arrow laced with sleeping herbs but I ignored him as my eyes began to close. Just before I blacked out I heard Nicoletta scream.

"That's _him_! That's the manwhore!"


	5. Quinque

_**A/N: **I guess I think I'm Xed Alpha 'cause I'm posting a chapter that's over six thousand words. A special thanks to my **Beta Mission to Marzipan**__ for pointing out my numerous mistakes and allowing me to create a character based off him. I personally am not all that found of that chapter because, well I'm just not. On another note, Coffee wasn't created until the fifteen hundreds well after the Roman empire but, I needed the lovely drink for a character base... So ignore it. Anywhore, get to the good stuff._

**Knights and Dragons**

The city of Rome seemed to come alive in the sunlight. Everyone within the capitol walked around with smiles on their faces and weapons at their sides — you could normally find two people fighting in the middle of the street because of the entire '_my patron is better than your patron_' fiasco that was so popular at the time. There was only one person in the entire city that didn't seem to be enjoying the festive times and he was currently sitting on the roof of a large cathedral. His name was Rosario Brunelleschi, son of the god Somnus.

Normally because of his heritage he would either be asleep somewhere trying to unravel the mysteries of the universe or trying to find a comfortable place to sleep. Currently, however, sleep was the last thing on his mind because of a strange dream that he had had a few days ago. In the dream he was standing in front of Queen Edvige, ruler of his old home of _Verita_. She was glaring in his direction like she always used to whenever he came into presence, but this time she wasn't looking at him — she was looking _through _him. He turned around to find the person that tried to kill him when he and the rebels invaded the Queen's castle. Her name was Lorena, daughter of the father of winter, Aquilon. For some reason in the dream he couldn't hear what they were saying but he could read their lips quite well.

Edvige said something about how Lorena had let one person get away during the kingdom's recent execution. She ordered the girl to find that person and bring them back to the castle so that they could be executed in the proper fashion. It soon dawned on Rosario that _he _was the person they were talking about. Apparently, during the execution of all his "friends", he was the only one smart enough to use the powers he had to escape. Instead of charging towards the gate like most people did he slipped to the back of the castle and managed to find an escape route thanks to the large river that connected to the sea that surrounded Italy.

From there he moved to Toscana and some how ended up in Rome — he honestly thought he could live out his life there. However, that lovely dream helped him know that things would be changing very soon. Instead of running off like most would've, Rosario decided it was better to stay where he was and let Lorena come to him. Running away was just going to delay the inevitable, plus he really didn't feel like running anymore. Some would say it was because he was a lazy bastard and others might say it was because he had the heart of a champion — either way he wasn't leaving without a fight.

Rosario exhaled and found that he could see his breath, which was something that rarely happened in the great city. His eyes shifted up to the sky and he nearly fell off the roof when he saw the snow that was slowly starting to fall towards the ground. He shook his head because _that _could not be a good sign. A strong wind blew through the area and forced him to cover his eyes — when he opened them he found a certain daughter of Aquilon floating in front of him with a large grin on her lips.

"How did you find me?" he asked.

"Edvige has spies all over the place. I got a tip from a friend who said she saw someone who fitted your description wandering around Rome."

"I suppose this means you'll be taking me back to the castle?" Rosario asked as he slowly stood up. He picked up the small jug that rested beside him on his way up.

Lorena nodded and pulled her sword from its sheath. "Obviously, all bugs must be crushed eventually. It's your time."

The daughter of Aquilon prepared to charge at Rosario only to have him raise his hand into the air and take a long sip from his jug. Once he was finished he tossed the jug away and locked eyes with Lorena. "What was that?"

"Coffee, the best thing every created by man." With that being said Rosario leapt towards Lorena. Her grin only grew wider — what idiot in their right mind would honestly try to attack her in mid-air? She flew forward with a strong tailwind pushing at her back and her sword's tip slipped into Rosario's stomach before he even had a chance to register what was going on. Seeing as how he jumped into air, all Lorena had to do was push the sword in deeper until she could see the shiny golden end sticking out of his back. Rosario twitched for a second and she could see the pain in his eyes.

"Looks like you were ready to die."

Lorena turned her sword down and pushed his body so that it fell towards the hard ground below. She smiled as Rosario's body fell down — however, she felt as if something was wrong. Her eyes shifted onto her sword and she found that there wasn't a single drop of blood; she turned her attention towards the ground only to find that Rosario's body wasn't a bloody mess. A quiet voice echoed in her ears and she was startled to say the least. "_Did you have a nice dream?_"

After the voice spoke everything around her faded — she opened her eyes to find that she was still hovering in front of the cathedral and Rosario was no where in sight. She let out a ferocious growl because that son-of-a-bitch had had the nerve to force her into seeing his death while he escaped. With another growl she floated higher in the air and tried locating her prey.

Rosario, on the other hand, was heading toward the Coliseum — he had to admit that forcing Lorena into a micro-nap was one of the smartest things he'd ever done. Most people underestimated what children of Somnus could do; they often assumed they could make people fall asleep which alone was no big deal, but Somnus was the god of sleep, which meant that his sphere of influence included dreams. Therefore, children of Somnus could manipulate dreams to make people see what they wanted them to see. It was an interesting gift, especially when you want the girl you like to dream about you while she sleeps. He pulled a right and was a little more than surprised to see Lorena waiting for him with sword in hand.

"You're _really _fast," Rosario said while brushing a brown curl out of his face.

Lorena wasn't in the mood for talking this time around. She half-flew half-jumped towards Rosario with her sword raised in the air. The son of Somnus sidestepped and watched the blade hit the ground beside him. He turned his body ever so slightly before raising his knee and ramming it into Lorena's face. A low crunch echoed in his ears and he knew right then that this fight was about to get a hell of a lot worse. Rosario took two steps back as Lorena began to stagger, leaving drops of blood on the ground around her. Her hand moved up to her face and with a loud snap she reset her nose before wiping away any blood.

Rosario arched his eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest. "Tell me something, Lorena. Why exactly are you working for Edvige?"

The only response he got was a growl.

"Weren't you Necia's first knight?" he asked. "Why would you betray her like you did?"

Regret was never an emotion that Lorena felt — everything that she did she did for a reason. Even when she froze most of her former friends and cut all of them down one by one, there was no sense of regret. There wasn't a real reason that she turned against Necia, not until she started hanging out with _him_. Slowly, the image of a blond boy slipped into her brain — he was smirking at her while holding Necia's hand. Lorena let out another growl as her body started to tremble.

"You honestly want to know why?" she asked as she gripped hold of her sword's hilt. Everyone in the area could feel the sudden drop in temperature. "The reason is because I absolutely _hate_ that filthy manwhore!"

Rosario took a step back in surprise and ducked down just in time to avoid having his head removed. He could see that Lorena wasn't going to stop fighting anytime soon so he decided that it would be in his best interest to fight back. His fingers moved down to the powder horn that rested on the side of his hip; he pulled it out and uncapped it. Suddenly, the horn shifted forms and he was holding a cutlass. Lorena took a step back at the odd-looking weapon — the son of Somnus snickered because he absolutely _loved _seeing people's facial expressions when they saw his weapon of choice.

A cutlass was a weapon with a curved–single-edged blade and a pair of brass knuckles serving as the hand guard. He had picked the strange weapon because it was something most people didn't use — plus it was free. Apparently the sword was an upgraded version of a Greek weapon called _Anaklusmos_ and had been crafted by some chick named Nightshade. Regardless of where the weapon came from it served its purpose.

The daughter of Aquilon didn't waste any time waiting for Rosario to make a move. She moved in for a vertical slash only to have her foe parry the attack — her eyes locked onto Rosario and the next thing he knew his body was flying backwards. He hit the ground _hard _before coming to a stop about twenty feet away from his original location.

Just as he was standing up, Lorena appeared over him hovering about two feet off the ground — she grinned and slashed down at her prey. Rosario gritted his teeth and brought his sword up to block; he pushed up on his sword just enough to force Lorena back. Once that was done he stood up and punched at Lorena using the brass knuckles at the end of his sword. She quickly summoned a wall of wind in front of her and managed to avoid the attack.

Lorena floated backwards a few feet before landing on the ground. "I don't remember you being a fighter."

"You've never seen me when I've had a hot cup of coffee either."

Rosario was just about to charge forward when an arm appeared out of thin air and caught him in a chokehold. He tried breaking free only to have Lorena place her sword directly in front of his stomach — his eyes shifted behind him just as a figure came into view. Standing behind him was the infamous son of Mercury, Achilles Nova. The sneaky demigod nodded to Lorena in a sign of respect before returning his attention back to Rosario, who was slowly losing consciousness. Achilles applied a little more pressure to his neck and watched with glee as Rosario dropped his sword. After about two minutes he released his unconscious body onto the ground. It didn't take long for Lorena to lean down and flash freeze him. She glanced up at Achilles who was currently grinning at her.

"What the Pluto are you doing here?"

Achilles shook his head. "Oh my, is this the thanks I get for my services?"

"I did most of the work," Lorena said with a snarl. She grabbed Rosario's frozen body and hoisted him over her shoulder. "I'll be heading back to the castle, are you coming?"

"Not right away. I wouldn't want to be there when — I mean… I want to visit the Pantheon. See if I can't get in touch with my old man."

Lorena nodded before snapping her fingers and disappearing in a miniature blizzard. Achilles grinned as he headed towards the Pantheon. "I wonder how they're going to like the surprise." His body slowly began to fade as he covered himself in a thick veil of mist.

_While Lorena made her delivery Vitale was trying his best to stay alert. _

_-a-_

Have you ever have a bad day? I mean a day that was so bad it felt like your life was slowly coming to an end and there was absolutely _nothing _that you could do about it? Replace the word 'day' for 'week' and you pretty much can sum up how I've felt since I first entered the Kingdom of Verita. Sure, I know that I'm supposed to help take down Edvige and reinstate Necia into power, but that didn't mean I couldn't hate every second of the adventure I was on (of course you had to exclude the time I was spending with Pietra because that was _amazing_).

A low humming echoed clear in my ears and I sidestepped as an arrow whizzed past my head. It took me a few minutes to regain my balance on account of the drugs that were currently working their way through my body — remember that arrow that hit me in the neck? Saverio hadn't lied when he said it was laced with a special sleeping herb. However, he _didn't_ mention that the arrow that hit me was laced with another herb that caused the body to experience a strange feeling of euphoria. Now I know what you're thinking: _Vitale, isn't euphoria normally a good thing? _

Under any other circumstances my answer would be yes but, seeing as how I was standing in the middle of a sex shop with my miniature soliderstanding at attention, my answer is defiantly _hell no_. Apparently that manwhore had special arrows made that could help stimulate the body's sexual drive — in other words my blood was rushing to one part of my body.

That alone helped to explain why when I woke up Pietra was staring at me, Davide was trying not to look at me, and Nicoletta was laughing her ass off. Speaking of my wonderful friends, each of them was in a position that made mine look petty. Pietra stood a few inches away from me with a large burn mark covering her back. She had tried to attack Saverio and the bastard pulled a disappearing act and appeared behind her a few seconds later — all that anybody in the shop could hear was screaming when he blasted her in the back.

Nicoletta was kneeling on the ground trying to remove an arrow that had hit her in the shoulder. Her face twisted into a look of pain as she ripped the silver-tipped projectile out of her shoulder — blood was oozing out of the wound like it was drawn to the floor. The daughter of Bacchus tossed the arrow down before grabbing her sword off the ground and getting to her feet. I saw this strange look of determination in her eyes as she glared in the direction of her — I mean _our_ — foes.

Davide looked like he was the best out of all of us; he was standing on his feet with trident in hand and water swirling around his body. He had really been a fighter during the entire ordeal with the manwhore — Saverio had tried attacking us several times and he was the reason we weren't in worse shape. His eyes occasionally moved backwards to Nicoletta and I could see a look of concern cross his face every time he laid eyes on the large wound on her shoulder. For some reason I knew his pain — each time I looked at the burn mark on Pietra's back I couldn't help but to feel responsible. If I liked her so much then why couldn't I protect her? Although I was sure it was worse for Davide because he didn't just like Nicoletta — he _loved _her. My eyes shifted from my comrades onto the sons of bitches that put us in this situation.

Standing about five feet away from Davide was Saverio, who as always, was sporting a grin. After that nap he took it looked like he had regained all of his strength and was ready to get back into the battle — his eyes were gleaming with a bright light almost like he was trying to burn each of us with a stare. He held a light sword in one hand and held an orb of light in the other like he was ready to fire at anytime. A low snicker escaped his lips and I could see that his eyes currently rested on Pietra — the bastard was actually enjoying the pain that she was in. If this ecstasy ever wore off, I swore to the gods that I'd ram his head into the wall. However, there was someone standing behind Saverio whose head I wanted to rip off as opposed to slamming it into a wall.

Agipito Tate (or the manwhore as I called him) stood with a long crimson bow in his hand. He had dirty blonde hair that extended all the way down to his back — his eyes were a faded shade of gray almost as if they had been washed one too many times. Unlike Saverio, he wasn't sporting a grin or even a smile for that matter; his lips were curled downward into a frown that looked like it was built on his face. Here was an interesting bit of information that my friends neglected to tell me before we started this wild manwhore chase — Agipito was _blind_. I know what you're thinking: _Vitale how can a blind person use a bow?_ My answer is a simple one: _Pluto if I know_.

From what Davide told me, this was the first time he knew anything about Agipito not being able to see. Davide said that the accident that cost him his eyes must've happened _after_ Edvige took over the kingdom. Whatever the case, Agipito was currently the only person I could that could tell me anything about Edvige and for some strange reason he _hated _my guts. I took a step forward and found myself stumbling — I gritted my teeth and forced myself to straighten up.

_Looks like you _really _liked that Pietra girl_. As if my problems weren't bad enough, my father decided to peek into my mind to see how everything was going. Have I ever mentioned that I hate my father? "_Unless you plan on telling me how to get rid of this thing leave me alone_."

He chuckled. _Isn't that obvious? Stroke it a little._

"_Something that doesn't involve me embarrassing myself in front of everyone,_" I said with a growl. My dad gave a hearty laugh before responding.

_Pain and pleasure go hand in hand. If you want to get rid of the pleasure you have to use a lot of pain. I remember this one time with your mom — she actually _liked _the pain and she screamed when—_ I cut off my mental connection with him before I heard something that would scar me for the rest of my natural life. My eyes locked onto the arrow that Nicoletta had thrown on the ground earlier and I reached down and grabbed it. With a quiet grunt I stabbed myself in the arm and waited — after about two minutes, my soldier retracted and blood starting running its regular course through my body. Instinctively I popped my knuckles and glared up at Saverio and Agipito.

"Davide, Nicoletta can you guys cover me?" I asked while stepping up in front of them. Nicoletta smirked. "Nice to see you handled your _little _problem."

Davide still wasn't looking at me. "We've got your back."

That was all it took for me to rush in towards my foes. Saverio arched his eyebrows when he saw me moving in. His lips curled into a grin and the next thing I knew he was in front of me sending the tip of his sword towards my stomach — vines shot of the ground and stopped him before his blade got close. The familiar grapes that coiled around the vines helped me know that Nicoletta had saved me yet again; with a huff, I cocked my arm backwards and sent a punch right at Saverio's face. When I let my fist loose I felt the always-satisfying crunch of a nose being broken. Saverio let out a groan as I brought my other hand forward and punched him in the stomach — his body slid backwards and before coming to a stop right next to his boss. Now I was face to face with Agipito.

For some reason, something was telling me that trying to fight the son of Cupid would only make my situation worse, so I decided to talk to him. "We don't have to do this."

That got Agipito's attention. "I completely agree. All you have to do is leave."

It become surprisingly clear that while I was sleeping, Davide and Nicoletta must've _tried_ persuadingAgipito to come back with us. From the expression he wore, I could tell they didn't do a very good job. "All I want to do is talk to you, I'm sure if you'd just listen to what I have to say then—"

He cut me off. "I'll talk to _you_;however, the others have to leave."

I glanced over my shoulder at my friends. Davide was glaring at Agipito as if he didn't even like being in his presence and Nicoletta was doing the same. Pietra was still trying to take care of her burn and that seemed to take precedence over everything else. "They'll leave if you agree to heal the girl."

"Saverio, escort them to the Faunus Forest."

The son of Phoebus nodded his head from the floor before extending his left hand. A strange glow overtook each of my friends and suddenly they all vanished — Saverio soon followed suit.

Now it was only Agipito and I. "What exactly is the Faunus Forest?"

He didn't answer my question. Instead, he turned away from me and headed towards the back of the large shop — he glanced over his shoulder when I guess he didn't my footsteps. "Are you coming?"

I nodded in confusion before following him. We passed about six doors on our way to the very back of the shop — on our way I could often hear the sound of moaning coming from some of the rooms; it became obvious that some of Agipito's customers were enjoying themselves. The last door looked different form all the rest — there seemed to be this strange coldness creeping out of the room. Agipito felt around for the doorknob before gripping it and pulling the door open. When I laid eyes on the inside of the room, my jaw hit the ground. Every inch of the room was made of freshly-polished white marble; there was a small table composed of marble sitting in the center of the room with two chairs beside it. This was the first time that I had seen so much marble in one place.

Agipito stepped inside and I followed. He took a seat and I did the same — my eyes were continuously shifting around the marble walls. I'm guessing that Agipito could tell that I wasn't paying attention because he cleared his throat and I returned my attention to him. "Why exactly did you come here?"

"Because I need your help." I explained to him my situation, making sure to skip over the parts where my group of friends said _not _to come here. Once I had finished, Agipito sat in silence with his eyes closed, nodding his head like an old father trying to figure out if his son was lying or not. He reopened his eyes and shook his head. "I can't help you."

"Why in the name of Jupiter can't you? Everyone says you're the one that knew Edvige before she became queen; you can help me take her down! I need your help to restore the kingdom."

"Honestly," Agipito said with a bitter expression. "I could give a damn about that shitty kingdom or the people in it for that matter."

I could slowly feel this strange anger bubbling in the core of my being. "How can you say that? You were Necia's favorite knight weren't you?"

When I mentioned Necia his eyes seemed to change color — the pale blue gained a new depth as if that name brought back bad memories. There was only one time I had seen an expression colder than the one Agipito was giving me and that was when I was in the presence of Lord Aquilon himself. I could see that changing the subject would be the best thing for me to do right now if I didn't there might be a hole in my head from one of Agipito's arrows. "How did you lose your eyesight?"

His eyes seemed to change again; however, this time I could see pain in his eyes. He bit his lip as if the subject were something he didn't like to talk about. For a second, I thought he was going to scream at me and force me out — instead he looked up at me and spoke.

"When I first arrived in _Verita _I was instantly attracted to Necia, but despite what some people might tell you it wasn't sexual at all. After Edvige turned against her I was the only person that remained by her side in the castle. My arrows couldn't touch Edvige and soon enough one of her knights — that _bitch _Lorena — stabbed me in the back. I escaped the castle and that's when _he _paid me a visit." Agipito paused for a second and closed his eyes.

"Who is he?"

He opened his eyes and the pain from earlier seemed to be getting worse. "Necia's _wonderful _father, Hyperion. When the two of us started dating, he appeared to me in a dream. He told me that it was my duty to protect her — when I escaped Hyperion thought I was ditching my duties. So he took something from me that I'll never get back."

My mouth opened but nothing came out. This was the first time I had ever heard anything like this before.

"That's why I can't help you," Agipito said while regaining his composure. "There wouldn't be anything that I could do."

"I've never seen someone shoot an arrow like you — I'm sure with the knowledge you have and my strength we could take her down."

The son of Cupid gave me a list of reasons why he couldn't help. Each reason was different and worse than the last — they ranged from Edvige threatening to kill Necia if he stepped foot inside the castle again to something called the _Magi _erasing him from history. There were two very important things I learned about Agipito: first he wasn't well-liked and two he was a huge _pussy_ (or coward if you prefer a nicer word).

"You're basically telling me that you're afraid."

"I wouldn't exactly say that—"

I cut him off. "That's what it sounds like to me. She's holding your girlfriend hostage and you're too much of a coward to save her." Soon I was on my feet. "I don't want help from someone like you. I'll take Edvige down on my own and deliver Necia to you in a nice red bow."

With that, I stormed out of the shop and headed in the direction I had seen Saverio walking in. He flashed me a grin as he passed me and I held myself back from punching him in the face. I could tell beyond a shadow of a doubt that this adventure wouldn't be getting any easier. There was one part of me that said it was okay to quit — Dad would understand and I'd be accepted back into my home because you know my mom loves me. However, there was another part of me that disagreed and said seeing this through was the only way to do things. I _was _a son of Hercules after all and giving up wasn't something that was in my genetics.

For some reason, I couldn't help but wonder if I was the first half-blood to ever be completely split down the middle on an issue. I could actually feel my brain ripping itself apart at the seams; there was only three words that could describe how I was currently feeling.

_Fuck my life… _

-x-

Rosario opened his eyes and found himself chained to a wall. He struggled for a few seconds before coming to the final conclusion that the chains were impossible to break without having some kind of natural gift. His eyes locked onto a small figure that lay a few feet away from him and a look of shock came over his face. Laying there in black shackles was none other than Necia, the former ruler of the kingdom. He couldn't say that he knew her all that well but seeing her reduced to her current state was something he couldn't tolerate. Her once-glowing skin was now chalky even her hair looked pale; she twitched every so often as if living was something she couldn't do for much longer. The son of Somnus closed his eyes because the sight was too much for him to bear. As soon as he closed his eyes he heard Necia mumble something.

"Agipito," she said in a pleading voice. "Please hurry."

That name was one Rosario knew very well seeing as how it was his best friend. With a very gentle sigh he willed Necia to have a pleasant dream — her body relaxed and after a few minutes she was snoring gently. Rosario knew one thing for certain: if he didn't die today he would fine Agipito and tell him about some of things that his girlfriend was going through. A loud bang rang through the dungeon followed by the sound of footsteps; Rosario glanced up to find two soldiers dressed in full armor walking down the stairs. One of the two pulled out a key and freed him while the other yanked him onto his feet. "The Queen requests a meeting with you."

"You almost make it sound like I have a choice in the matter," Rosario said as he was pulled up the familiar stairs that lead to the throne room. A large pair of double doors awaited him when the soldiers reached the top. They each took a step backwards, which let Rosario know he'd be going in alone. With a loud sigh he stepped to the door, pushed it open, and continued inside. Sitting before him on a throne composed completely of gold was Edvige with a large smile on her face. In front of the demented queen was a large table with food set out — Rosario's body began to twitch because of a heavenly smell that had entered his nose. His eyes shifted from dish to dish until he laid eyes on a large glass cylinder that had steam rising off the top of it.

He swallowed hard. "Is that _coffee_?"

Edvige nodded. "I remembered how much coffee you used to drink; thought that it would be a nice bargaining tool."

Rosario glanced at her before returning his eyes to the coffee. "What exactly do you want?"

The Queen rose up and moved down the stairs in front of her throne. "I've been thinking: you don't _have _to die. You could become one of my knights and help me rule this kingdom."

"You're telling me that you want me to turn my freedom in for coffee?"

"It seems like a fair trade to me, wouldn't you agree?" Edvige asked innocently.

For a second Rosario opened his mouth to say something that might've got him fried right on the spot. After a few minutes of thinking it over he decided it would be best _not _to do that. His powder horn was getting heavier in his pocket — almost like it wanted him to start a fight with Edvige. His weapon was so perceptive sometimes, so he stuck his hand into his pocket and pulled out the horn. With a simple flick of the cap he was holding his cutlass. Edvige took a step back in shock before gritting her teeth. "You've made a grave mistake."

She snapped her fingers and soldiers began to pile into the room. Rosario glanced around the room trying to find an escape route — he found one in the strangest of places: two of Edvige's soldiers. One of them was about five foot even with long black hair and, unlike the others, she wasn't dressed in armor and the only weapons she had was her grin and two small short swords on her hips. The other standing next to her was a giant; he had brown hair, light gray eyes, and there was a large labrys (a double-headed axe) in his hands. His face sported a devilish grin. A faint smile came onto Rosario's face one he recognized the two people — either the goddess of luck was on his side or he was just having a _really _good day.

Queen Edvige followed Rosario's eyes onto the two soldiers and large sparks of electricity began to fly off her body. She pointed at the girl before screaming, "What in the name of Jupiter are you doing in _my _castle? I told you never to return here!"

Severa's grin only grew wider as the Queen spoke; she removed her helmet and revealed a pair of light green eyes. She took a step forward before bowing. "I'd say sorry but I really could give a flying_ fuck_ about your rules. Now I'll be taking Rosario with me."

The daughter of Jupiter screamed before snapping her fingers again. "KILL THEM!"

With a grin, the Sybil pulled a short sword from her waist and watched with glee as the blade caught fire. Edvige's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. Severa grinned at her expression.

"On our way here we decided to see if Necia's weapon vault was still around." She ducked under a slash and stabbed the blade right into a soldier's eyes — his body caught aflame before turning into ash. The Sybil brushed a strand of hair from her eyes before dashing through the soldiers and cutting them to shreds. Her assistant Raul was having just as much fun; he ran his axe through a soldier's shoulder and smiled when it burned away from his body. If there was one thing that Raul loved it was a good flaming weapon because _everything_ was better when it came with divine fire that could burn your opponents to ashes.

The only person in the room that was calm at this point was Rosario — then again he was sitting on top of Edvige's table sipping coffee for dear life. He was half way done with the jug when of the soldiers rushed him; his eyes instantly shifted onto the soldier and he tossed one of the plates in his direction. Rosario chugged the remainder of the coffee before jumping off the table and slashing the soldier in mid-air. Once he was on the ground he turned to find Edvige heading in his direction — that wasn't a good sign.

"Severa think you could use those flaming swords to help us get out of here?"

The Sybil glanced over him with a grin. "Just give me a second!"

"Mistress," Raul said as he stabbed a soldier through the gut. "What about Necia?"

Contrary to what people thought about Severa she did have a heart. She wanted to save Necia because honestly Edvige had to be the worst ruler since that Nero fellow. However, now wasn't the correct time — she had constant visions of the future and if she was sure about one thing it was that saving Necia wasn't something the fates would let her do alone. They had someone else in mind — someone much more _deserving _of that honor.

"Not enough time," she lied. "I'll take out a wall."

Her fingers wrapped around the hilt of her second sword and with a grunt she made a large flaming 'X' on the wall that led to the outside. It took a few minutes for the magical fire to cut through solid rock but once it did there was a waiting escape route. Severa sheathed her swords before glancing back at Raul and Rosario, who were busy keeping the soldiers at bay. "Come on!"

The son of Invidia grabbed one of the soldiers and tossed him towards Edvige — to say the Queen was pleased to have a half-conscious man land on her would've been the best lie ever told. Severa jumped and was followed by her two friends. Thankfully, they were only on the castle's second floor so the fall wasn't that bad. Rosario glanced up to find Edvige pointing at them and screaming — sticking around obviously wasn't a good idea.

"Any plans for a quick get away?"

Severa glanced at Raul with smirk. "Why don't you call your _pet _to help us?"

Raul placed his hand over his face like he was embarrassed. "Please mistress, I don't think that's necessary. Especially not in front of someone like _him_."

Rosario didn't have any time to be offended on account of the numerous footsteps that were ringing clear in his ears. His eyes shifted and he could just barely hear the sound of the castle doors opening. "Look, whatever this pet is can you please hurry up and call it?"

Rual sighed quietly to himself before pulling a clear whistle out of his pocket and blowing into it, releasing a loud, ear-splitting whistle. Severa grinned as the sound of flapping echoed through the air.

Here is a bit of interesting information about Raul: his father was a farmer. Unlike most regular farmers, however, he cared for creatures that tended to be on the supernatural side things, such as pegasus and hellhounds. This meant that Raul had a connection with some of the animals on the ranch — one of the animals liked him a little more than the others. A loud neigh echoed through the air and just as the soldiers surrounded the three a large pink horse landed on the ground beside them. The creature was larger than most pegasus and had a wingspan that could have dwarfed three condors.

Severa petted the creature as Raul helped her onto its back. Raul hopped on and extended his hand down to the Rosario, who at the moment was laughing his ass off.

The son of Invidia growled. "Just get on."

Within a matter of seconds the three were soaring through the air and dodging shots of electricity that Edvige was throwing up at them. Raul glanced back at Severa before speaking. "Where are we headed?"

"Paris," she said with a nod. "I think its time we pay a visit to my pet _dog_."

Raul nodded while Rosario arched his brow. "You have a dog in Paris?"

"More or less. Some call him a son of Cupid; I prefer to call him a dog. When he lived in the castle I had a nice big bone for him every night."

"I feel as if I know who you're talking about."

Severa shrugged. "You should. He was your best friend."

Rosario nodded and briefly he could tell what Severa was thinking.

_It was time for _someone_ to make a come back. _


End file.
